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myfairstarlight · 4 months

Text

Morbid Fascinations

AO3 Link.

Rated: T

Length: 2.6k

Written for @dgswomenzine with spot arts by @/AlienadoArt on twitter.

Gen - implied susahao/ghoulstrade but the main focus is on Maria and Rei/Haori

CW: Death, graphic descriptions of injuries

Summary:

When her first visit to London turns into a murder mystery, Rei finds herself under Dr Gorey's apprenticeship, at least for the duration of this case. As the two women, who seem such polar opposites, meet in a gloomy office with a decaying corpse on the side, quite an unlikely and stimulating friendship starts to bloom.

*additional notes on ao3.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

In the dim light of Dr Gorey’s office, Rei has to squint her eyes to be able to read the report Inspector Lestrade had handed to her. It is a far cry from the setting she is used to working in, Professor Mikotoba’s lab is spacier and allows for more light to come through. There is no window here, just an artificial light that hits the unsettling dolls decorating the upper shelves in a ghostly manner. Professor Mikotoba also likes to put on some music while he works but the only things filling the silence right now are the ticking of the clock behind Rei and Dr Gorey sharpening her knives.

Lowering the paper on the table before her, Rei sighs discreetly as she spares a glance at her new lab partner. Dr Gorey is already wearing her mask, making her breathing sound much harsher against the layer of leather and sending shivers down Rei’s spine. If she didn’t know any better, she would think she is the one about to be dissected and not the gradually rotting corpse laying a couple of feet away and frankly? It is an option she still fears from the stories she has heard from Susato and Naruhodo-san about the young coroner, actually.

“This is a peculiar case, don’t you think?” Rei tries to open the conversation, only to get a grunt as a response as the other young woman continues to sharpen her knives. “Good talk.”

Right, back to reading it is, then. Rei straightens her back and tries to ignore the constant slashing sound to her right as she pulls her hair into a low ponytail and grabs the report once more.

She was there when the body was discovered, but it is always interesting to read the perspective of an objective party whose vision did not get clouded by surprise or fear.

See, Rei literally just set foot in London when chaos suddenly unleashed on the train station. Susato, who had jumped off the train before her, wasted no time and ran towards the commotion, prompting Kazuma-kun and Lord van Zieks, who were welcoming them, to run after her, and Rei, well, she was on unfamiliar ground and had no other choice but to follow them as well before she lost sight of them. Lord van Zieks took advantage of his status to make the crowd part in their wake and as they approached a train track, Rei’s breath got caught in her throat at the sight before her.

A bloodied body was left laying on the dusty tracks, right where a train just departed. More surprising was someone next to it, unconscious but very much breathing and alive, looking perfectly fine if it wasn’t for the knife coated in blood in his left hand, droplets forming a grimsly pattern on his wrist. Fresh. The murder had just happened, from what Rei could gather from her quick observation before Susato was suddenly grabbing her and pulling her away from the scene as Kazuma-kun and Lord van Zieks started shouting instructions to the frightened crowd. Scotland Yard arrived shortly after with Inspector Lestrade leading the charge. She introduced herself with a bright smile and confident reassuring words that would have made Rei swoon in other circumstances if she hadn’t been a bit preoccupied by the murder scene.

“Welcome to London! Not the most heartwarming welcome but y’know, that’s London for ya,” she said in her thick accent.

Rei just nervously chuckled.

There’s something to be said about how eventful her first few hours in London have been, though. What was supposed to be a simple visit turned into a full investigation with Susato, now a certified defence lawyer of her own merit, taking the stand to defend the suspect — the unconscious man next to the body they have yet to identify — with her brother on the prosecution side. Rei, on her part, isn’t a licensed doctor just yet, but she was hoping this visit in London would allow her to learn a bit more about British practice and help her in her studies so she requested to be allowed to assist. She was quite surprised when the coroner in charge of the autopsy was barely two years older than her.

SHLANK!

Rei startles out of her seat at the sudden sound so close to her ear.

“Do you mind?!” she shouts from the floor, flustered more than actually scared. The only answer she gets is a mix between a snort and huff — quite hard to tell without being able to see Dr Gorey’s face or without being able to hear her properly.

“You looked distracted,” Dr Gorey says eventually, pulling off the mask and Rei has the sneaking suspicion it is so she can clearly see the coroner lift her left eyebrow in judgement at her. “Got work to do.”

“You read the report already?” Rei asks as she stands up again. She’s actually a tiny bit taller than the coroner when she stands at her full height and Rei gets a glimpse of Dr Gorey’s pout upon having the same realisation before she hides her expression away again behind her mask.

“Don’t need to, all I need to know is inside that body.” A pause as she tilts her head. “Why are you reading it? You were there.”

“Susato tried to protect me and hide the scene from me so I figured Inspector Lestrade may have written details I didn’t catch.”

“Huh. You’ve never seen a dead body before? I don’t need you fainting on me here.”

“Oh no, I have! Susato just forgot at that moment.”

“Mm.”

Silence takes over the room once more as Dr Gorey spins one thin cutter between her fingers. Back to business it is then. Rei takes a deep breath and reaches for her own mask, although with a much simpler design than Dr Gorey’s. She carefully covers her nose and mouth with it then tightens the knot behind her head. Just as she is done, Dr Gorey turns on the lamp above the examination table, making the already paling corpse look even whiter.

Which is… odd, actually.

“The body’s been dead for a while,” Rei finds herself saying before she could stop it. “Kept wondering why I could smell the decay… That isn’t supposed to happen until at the very least thirty-six hours after death. We discovered the body only a few hours ago— all these knife cuts, they were made post-mortem, see? The blood is already coagulated, dark and bloated, unlike the blood found on the knife and the suspect.”

Dr Gorey stops all her movements to stare at her in complete silence. Rei blinks and starts fidgeting. “Um. Sorry? You can go on, Dr Gorey.”

“No,” Dr Gorey’s soft voice answers. “I was expecting to teach you things but you’re already competent. I’d love to hear what else you’ve observed.”

Rei perks up then and rounds the examination table so she can point towards the cuts near the deceased’s heart.

“Burn marks,” she says, “the killer tried to clumsily hide them by stabbing the spot and then smearing fresh blood around it; however you can still see traces around the abdomen and around the wrists.”

Dr Gorey hums as she reaches forward and pulls the head of the victim to the side. “Burn marks around the skull as well, our poor puppet was tied up pretty strongly for it to leave such a trace after all this time.”

Rei makes a face at the “puppet” comment, eyes unconsciously shifting towards the dolls on the upper shelves, their button eyes seeming to look down on them, judging.

“Can’t be the cause of death, however, but we can assume he’s been dead for at least a good week,” Dr Gorey continues. “Anything else you can observe before we open him up?”

Rei hums, brow furrowing in concentration. “Well—”

As she launches into another observation about the man’s irises and blue-tinted lips that may indicate suffocation, Maria stares. It is unbecoming of her, she is aware it is rather impolite but she’s never been good at holding back her blatant interest when she is met with someone with a mind and competence so similar to hers — hence the mask, at least hidden behind the leather her staring is not as noticeable and doesn’t unsettle the subject of her current admiration.

Rei Membami is not quite what she expected. Over the years since The Professor’s case was unravelled, Maria thinks she has gotten better at socialising; it would be safe to say she is friends with Gina and Kazuma since they work so often together now, and the latter has often spoken of the people he had waiting for him in Japan, one of whom happened to be the woman standing right before her. His dearly beloved sister’s best friend.

“Please don’t be too harsh on her? She can be quite shy with new people,” the sister had asked her earlier with the forlorn look of a worried lover.

Maria had sighed. “Fine, I will not try to dissect her.”

Susato laughed, relieved and delighted, as if she had actually expected Maria to cut her friend to pieces, if not with knives, with words. “Good, thank you.”

Based on that brief discussion, Maria had expected to meet a quiet and reserved Japanese student who would not dare to speak up until prompted to. Rei Membami is anything but shy, so Maria supposes Susato’s perception is a bit skewed for reasons she doesn't care to learn.

“Dr Gorey?” The girl’s voice calling her snaps her out of her short reminiscence. Maria blinks back to the present, seeing Rei tilting her head in question.

“Why do you do that?” Maria finds herself asking, temporarily distracted.

“Do what?”

“Constantly call me Dr Gorey,” she explains, because it has been bothering her, just a tiny bit. “I’m your age, almost, it feels… odd.”

“I don’t see why it would be, you’ve earned that title!” Rei exclaims, smiling radiantly. Maria blinks once again at the sight of it. Far from shy and reserved, she thinks faintly. “And so young, it’s impressive, you should be proud! I’d demand that everyone never forget to call me Doctor if I were you, remind them of the power behind that title.”

Maria flushes. She’s been priding herself with her title, one has to in London as a young woman, but it's something else to hear someone else acknowledge it and praising her instead of berating her for being “too boastful for a woman of her standing”.

“That is true… however, between us, you can call me Maria, though, less of a mouthful… deal, Dr Membami?”

Rei flushes at the title suddenly applied to her. “Oh! But I’m not certified yet—”

“You should be, trust me.” Maria smiles then, lifting her mask up. She offers a hand and sees Rei’s eyes light up before she grabs it into a firm handshake and a small smile. “How come your friend is a certified lawyer but you’re still studying? From what I understand, women were not even permitted in a Japanese court unless they were a witness until very recently.”

“Ah. I got accused of murder.”

Oh, that would do.

“I also wasn’t officially a student at the time, just Professor Mikotoba’s assistant but then he left for a few months to be here. I got cleared of the charges, obviously, but being accused of murder does taint your image, especially when you want to specialise as a coroner and without Professor Mikotoba to vouch for me as a respected higher figure, I couldn’t apply to officially enrol at the University until much later. That didn’t stop me from trying but it only ended up delaying my enrollment because the administration was tired of me.” Rei chuckles, her pale cheeks gaining a healthy flush. “Here I am, though!”

“Impressive,” Maria praises. She tosses a cutter the other woman’s way and Rei catches it without even a flinch. Oh, Maria really likes her. “Well then, Dr Membami, we still have to find the cause of death in our case.”

“My bet is on drowning.”

Maria smiles. Probably not the most appropriate response to hearing someone might have drowned.

“You spotted the traces of salt clinging to his skin then, good,” Maria says. “Have you ever dissected a corpse before? A human one, of course.”

“No, unfortunately,” Rei admits. “I was hoping to watch an expert at work so I can learn, though.”

“Better, you’ll assist. There is no better lesson than practice, and the good thing about a dead corpse is that even if you mess up, it won’t feel anything.”

Rei makes a face even as she nods — alright, so morbid humour is not on the table. Nobody is perfect, Maria concedes.

And so, Maria instructs while Rei executes and sometimes, the other way around. Hours pass as they work effortlessly together, exchanging tools and idle conversations. Maria is having fun, the most fun she’s ever had since… well, since her mother was imprisoned. It turns out, she’s missed working in tandem with someone. Gina and Kazuma are fine co-workers but they do have other things to do than keep Maria company in her gloomy little office as she works on dead bodies and writes her reports.

They both startle as knocks resonate, followed by a familiar thick accent yelling, “Oi! ‘S it safe to go in?” followed by a much gentler and softer voice saying, “We really need the autopsy report, sorry to interrupt!”

Maria and Rei share a look.

“Did you… note down anything?” Maria asks, already knowing the answer.

Rei presents her gloved hands, smeared with dark dried blood, and shrugs. Maria finds herself chuckling and her new friend joins her in this odd moment of glee.

That is how Gina and Susato find them a couple minutes later as they push through the door when no answer is given to them. The two coroners continue to laugh along, scrambling to remove their gloves so they can grab some paper and a pen while Gina and Susato look on, a shared puzzled look in their eyes.

“Well, I did tell ya Maria wouldn’t murder your girl, didn’t I?” Gina says eventually.

“I did not actually think she would,” Susato huffs, elbowing the inspector. “But I suppose yes, that is a relief to see them getting on so well. Too well even, I do need that autopsy report now, my investigation is going nowhere…”

Gina nudges her back. “Don’t ya worry. ‘S teamwork, yeah?”

“You’re Kazuma-sama’s partner.”

The blonde playfully puts a finger in front of her lips as she smiles. “Tsk, he doesn’t need to know! I like ya better anyway.”

Susato indulges a smile just as Rei jumps in, handing them both a copy of the autopsy report, both written in her surprisingly neat handwriting considering how fast these reports had to be written. Then, Maria whistles which makes Gina immediately turn to her and follow her as both women settle around the coroner’s desk and start talking.

Susato leans against the wall while Rei squeezes right into her personal space.

“Alright, so this report is really just the basics, estimated time of death, injuries and cause of death, so you and Inspector Lestrade can continue investigating for the day, but Dr Gorey and I will write a more thorough report for tomorrow’s trial,” Rei starts to explain. “But I can tell you everything later today when we meet up for dinner.”

Some of Susato’s anxiety eases. “Perfect. I assume you and Dr Gorey worked well together?”

“And I cannot wait to work together again!” Rei gushes with that signature brilliant smile of hers. “Not that I wish for more murders—”

Susato only chuckles and looks back towards Maria and Gina just as Gina seems to make a joke, prompting Maria to flick her forehead so the inspector doesn’t see the smile threatening to bloom on the coroner’s lips.

It is teamwork, indeed, and what a team.

#the great ace attorney #dgs women zine #dgs fic #dgs spoilers #dai gyakuten saiban #implied susahao and ghoulstrade #maria gorey #haori murasame #rei membami #my fics #zine promo

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