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the-bar-sinister · 10 days

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Chains of the Dragon (4445 words) by thesavagesabretooth Additional Tags: Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Drama & Romance, Eventual Happy Ending, ethical non-monogamy, relationship drama, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, genre: political thriller and soap opera, POV Multiple, Klavier Gavin-centric, Apollo Justice-centric, Nahyuta-centric, Ema Skye-centric, Trucy Wright-centric, No cheating, Polyamory Endgame, klapollo-centric, klavema-centric, nahyupollo-centric, skyemadhi-centric, klavmadhi-centric, plot heavy It takes almost four months for Apollo Justice's on-again off-again boyfriend Klavier Gavin to find out why he hasn't seen his favorite herr forehead–or their forensic investigator– in town in a while. When he discovers that Apollo has moved to Kura'in without so much as a goodbye or a phone call, the rockstar hatches a plan with Trucy Wright to swoop into action and rescue the derelict lawyer from his self imposed exile.

Meanwhile, Apollo has been building a life in the newly reformed country. After confessing his feelings to his childhood best friend Nahyuta, the two of them have settled into a fond relationship which has begun to grow into to include Ema in its strange dance. Of course, there hasn't been much time for romance while rebuilding the country, and tensions are only growing as a schism spreads through the ranks of the Defiant Dragons.

Klavier and Trucy, along with Trucy's new assistants, Bonny and Betty, arrive on the scene in a Kurai'in situation that's as tense and ready to blow romantically as it is politically.

September 30, 2028– 2:30 pm

It wasn't babysitting. Trucy was almost 18 years old now– practically a woman in her own right– and certainly Klavier's dear friend in her own right.

No– while the rest of the Wright Anything Agency was busy with the Sprocket wedding, Klavier was more than happy to keep his good friend company. Even if he did have to take care of some of the paperwork sitting on his desk in the prosecution office before they actually went out and did anything fun.

Paperwork aside, usually Trucy would be laughing about something or other by this point–sitting on his desk while he worked and going on about something that happened at the Wunder Bar, or something she’d done with Pearl, or hell, some fresh news about the Wright Anything Agency.

Today, though, she was laying face down on his ergonomic chair. Her silk top hat had fallen to the ground, where it rolled in a lazy half circle back around to bump against the chair leg. He heard her whine another. “uuuurghhhh” that was muffled by the cushions.

Klavier got up to noodle a few chords on his guitar in between papers, and he leaned on the display case looking over at Trucy.

"Forgive me for saying so, but you don't exactly seem your perky self today, fraulein. Wedding bell blues?" He glanced over at her, stroking his fingers idly up the neck of his guitar.

Trucy looked up, dark circles around her eyes speaking to a night of little sleep.

“I mean…I’m really, really upset that daddy didn’t bring me to that wedding, sure…I’m the ONLY one in the office who hasn’t been invited! Even Miss EMA got to go! B-but…”

Klavier fingered a low, sullen chord at the mention of Ema Skye. She hadn't been in town for months, and now she was at a wedding without him? He had to admit he was a little hurt about that too.

"But, fraulein?"

“Daddy just told me some stuff that’s been…I d-dunno. A lot.” She sniffled as she wiped her face, and her head dropped back to his fancy chair. “And I don’t even have the chance to catch the bouquet to make up for it.”

"That's no fair. No fair at all, Trucy." He played another low, thoughtful chord and sighed. "Want to tell mr. Klavier what's on your mind? Or should we just drink our troubles away? Soda pop for you, of course."

“Of course,” Trucy said with utter despair. She rolled over with a frown . “I don’t even get to drink the good stuff.“...so, you wanna know something super funny?”

"I always want to know something funny, fraulein." He set down his guitar and he came over and stood beside the chair. "Even if I suspect this isn't the kind of funny that'll make me laugh."

“Oh it’s a doozy though!” Trucy rolled to sit up, her smile strained and twitching as she said “my dead mom has been dead lying to me for my whole life! Or at LEAST the last two years or so!”

Klavier put his hand on the chair and frowned. He had known that Trucy was an orphan– much like himself So this revelation was absolutely a shock.

He put on his brightest smile. "Care to run that by me again, I think I missed it."

Trucy ran her hand through her hair with a laugh. “My dead mom! She’s been lying to me. Because she’s not dead at all, Klavier! She’s still SUPER alive, and SUPER someone we know!”

"Well that's fucked up, fraulein!" Klavier leaned in over her. He paused as the full extent of her words hit him. "Wait did you say someone we know? As in I know your dear departed mother?"

“Uh huh!” Trucy nodded seriously. “I mean…she didn’t know she was my momma right away of course. She had amnesia. But then she remembered and asked Daddy to keep it a secret from me.”

Klavier clenched his knuckles unconsciously. "Oh did she?"

“Yep!” Trucy seemed on the edge of tears, nervously tugging at a lock of her hair “Lamiroir, the Siren of the Ballad is my momma, I guess. She swore daddy to secrecy until ‘the time was right’. And… I mean, that’s pretty crazy right?”

She sniffed softly.

Klavier stood frozen for a moment while the gears of his mind refused to move. Lamiroir– his friend, Lamioir– the siren of the ballad. The woman he'd gone on tour with.

That was Trucy Wright's mother?

And she hadn't told her?

Klavier could only stare for a moment in shock.

"Scheiße…" was all he managed to get out of his mouth.

“And that wasn’t even all of it, Klavier!” Trucy had begun openly sobbing now. Tears spilled down her freckled cheeks as she tried to stop them by holding her hands to her eyes. “there was…was somethin’ ELSE too!”

"Oh. Oh. Oh. Fraulein… come here…" He reached down and he scooped Trucy up into a tight hug as she cried. He was still in shock at the very idea of Lamoiror…. But he couldn't stand to see someone crying… "Tell Klavier what's wrong, okay?"

Trucy’s head thumped against his shoulder as she sniffled and cried for a moment more before he heard her whisper something in a murmur. It was barely perceptible between the tears and the way she pressed her face into his shoulder…but he heard it all the same.

“I got a big brother.”

Klavier's heart thumped in his chest like someone had plucked a guitar string inside it.

"Oh yeah?" he asked hoarsely.

“Y-yeah.” Trucy looked up at Klavier, her eyes red and bloodshot and tears dribbling down her face. She sniffed again, hiccuping before she said, “a ha-half brother who I’m never gonna see again! “

"What? No! Absolutely not true, fraulein," Klavier insisted. His heartbeat was playing a staccato beat now. "Where is this brother? Who is he? He's not dead is he?"

Or in jail? The thought rang loud between the beats in his chest.

“Not yet!” Trucy sniffled “...he’s just gone and sent himself into self-exile in the middle of the mountains forever! ‘Oh no, Trucy. I’m not coming back to LA. I gotta stay here and take up the burden of fixing a whole country’s legal system! Goodbye forever! Apollo FRICKING Justice chooses Khura’in!”

She gently thumped her fist’s against Klavier’s chest…and broke out sobbing once more.

Rockstar Klavier Gavin held the sobbing, thumping young lady against his chest in a gentlemanly manner– while young, confused Klavier internally struggled to keep up with what she had said.

The gears in his mind seemed to stretch too far and go 'sproing' internally.

"Did you say 'Apollo Justice', fraulein?"

Trucy laughed painfully against him, and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh, I didn't tell you? Turns out Apollo’s my secret half brother, this whole time! Gosh! Good thing that didn’t go and turn awkward, huh? That’d be terrible!”

"Very awkward," he said in a low voice. Normally he would have made a joke about a soap opera perhaps. But he was still too busy catching up. "Apollo is your brother. How funny, fraulein. And is he at that wedding today too? I haven't seen him in… a while."

A while was generous. It had been months. Klavier tried not to be clingy. He tried to give Apollo his space. After all, they weren't really official. They weren't official any more than he and Ema were. It was just an on again, off again thing, whenever they weren't busy.

Even if Klavier would have preferred a little more attention. He wasn't going to be clingy. He'd let Apollo have his space. After all, if he clung too hard, he'd just end up pushing him away. Better to play it casual.

“Oh he’s moved to the himalayan mountains with a monk.” Trucy said dryly as she wiped at her tears. “forever. They’re fixing the legal system after their merry band of revolutionaries initiated an armed rebellion and overthrew their evil queen. Who looked like a sentai villain, by the way.”

Klavier started to laugh, rather helplessly.. "Oh, Trucy that's very funny. Good joke, very good joke! Moved to the himalayan mountains– does Apollo know you're telling people this?"

“No!” Trucy said with a shaky smile “because he’s in the himalayan mountains! With terrible reception and one letter every two months, at most!”

She thumped her hand against Klavier once more, before she started to sob again.

“I miss him so …so so much and now I find out he’s my brother just in time for him to go hide in a temple forever!” She looked up at Klavier with a sniffle and a sharp pout. “You don’t believe me? Ask Ema. Ema’s been there too! She’s been Mr. Sad Monk’s detective for the past buncha trials, including that horrible one with me and Mr. Reus!”

Everything around Klavier was noise. Horrible, out of tune static that filled his head like a screeching amp. He swallowed.

"Trucy," he said quietly to the girl in his arms. "I'm going to sit down alright? Sit down with me."

He didn't exactly wait for her to agree before he toppled backward into his chair, pulling her down with him into his lap.

Trucy thumped against him, before she settled rather neatly into his lap with a hiccup.

“I know it sounds crazy, I–I tried to convince him to come back, but he said he h-had to stay. And now he’s barely even writing! I was surprised to see Ema back but I wasn’t invited to the stupid murder OR the wedding so I– I haven’t really seen her enough to ask.”

Klavier closed his eyes, shutting out the terrible light from the office window that had started to mingle with the noise in his head. Trucy was a reassuring weight in his lap at least as he reeled. He leaned back in his chair, chin pointed at the ceiling..

"So Ema knows where he is. She's seen him recently."

“Probably…she was still lingering in the Kingdom of Khura’in with the intention to continue helping that Nahyuta guy with the prosecution of a bunch of old cases in need of retrial. I think she only just got back…so s-she’s probably seen him recently.”

"Right." He took a deep breath. "So we need Ema. Get to Ema, we get to herr forehead. Your brother."

“My brother. And Ema…..” Trucy nodded against him with another sharp sniff. She paused. “Wait, g-get to him? I mean, Klavier, what…are you saying we should stomp up to the temple gates and yell for him to get his butt out here?”

His eyes snapped open as all the noise in his mind went suddenly quiet.

Stomp up to the temple gates and yell for him to get his butt out here.

He smiled a slice of a smile like the moon hanging in a dark sky.

"Fraulein, we are going to stomp up to the temple gates, yell for him to come out, and if he does not, we are going to force our way in."

Trucy Wright’s tears finally stopped, and she wiped her eyes with a shaky grin.

“...stomp to the temple gates…and if he doesn’t come out…force our way in…” She seemed to mull it over for only a second before she grabbed his shoulders with a grin. “Klavier, have I ever told you that you’re the absolute BEST?”

She fumbled for her phone “I gotta…no, dammit, Pearl’s just started in the police academy. I can't– well I’ll at least say that I’ll be gone for a few weeks…and I'll bring back snacks.”

"Good thinking, fraulein," Klavier nodded, searching for his own phone. "I'm sure they'll have many fine snacks for us to bring back from your brother herr forehead's monastic exile, ja?"

He shot a text to Ema Skye– Fraulein detective, could you see me at the office after your wedding fun? I can pay for your taxi.

He didn't expect a text back soon– but he did expect Ema to be blasted out of her gourd. So she'd probably agree to the taxi.

September 30, 2028– 4:30 pm

Ema Skye was blasted out of her gourd.

The world was swimming, Larry Butz had his ass absolutely kicked by her and the ladies. The bar was free, on the mighty Sprocket tab, and she had missed the bouquet she’d been hoping to catch for a certain pain in her ass…but in return she got to snack on some of the finest appetizers she’d ever had in her goddess-damned life.

Life was great. Fantastic, even.

And then her phone beeped. The letters swam in her vision…but the gist was easily deduced as she murmured. “...so the glimmerous fop wants to see me, does he? And a free taxi at that.”

Miles Edgeworth– technically, technically her date to the wedding, at least in the sense that she was his plus one– swam into her vision with a cocktail in his hand.

"You were saying something, Ms. Skye?"

“Mr. Gavin wants to see me.” She raised her cocktail to her lips with a bleary blink. “at the prosecutor’s office after my ‘wedding fun’. The adora….rible Adorible fop.” She murmured into her cocktail– the combination of ‘adorable’ and ‘terrible’ was sure to be a hit. Just like glimmerous.

"Adorable fop," Miles agreed. He reached out and put a hand on her hand as she went to sip her cocktail. "Maybe we've had enough for this afternoon?"

“Guh.” Ema looked up at him with a grimace. “Don’t stop me now, Mr. Edgeworth, I’m just gettin’ started.” “gotta console myself somehow after that farce of Larry’s. Why’d they even invite that pest?”

She still lowered the cocktail despite her protest, sighing gently.

"I suspect that he invited himself," Miles drawled. He glanced over with a worried look to where Butz was trying to chat up some wedding guests. "Unfortunately. I should probably try to wrangle him. Were you saying that you had a ride home?"

“To the prosecutor’s office, actually.” Ema stretched with a sloppy grin. “My fop needs me, I guess.”

Miles patted her on the back. "Dutiful of you, investigator."

September 30, 2028– 5:35 pm

The warm sun had just started to set when Klavier and Trucy stood outside the prosecutors' office, waiting for Ema's taxi. Klavier leaned on the wall of the building with his hands in his pockets, thinking over the situation and the plans that they'd been making.

After the shock had settled, he'd been able to get a clearer picture from Trucy on exactly what had happened.

Trucy leaned beside him, finally having stopped crying– though she still seemed pensive and hurt as she looked up at the sky. “You really think this’ll work, Mr. Gavin?”

"We'll make it work, fraulein," he said, his jaw tight.

Apollo Justice had been born and raised in a far away country under the tyranny of a strange religious law. He'd been raised by guerilla rebels. He'd been exiled from them to the united states as a pre-teen. And now he'd been summoned back to his foreign homeland, to inherit the work of his surrogate father and put right the country's own dark age of the law.

Klavier's knuckles tightened. Bullshit. It was all bullshit. Apollo didn't belong there.

He belonged here. With him. With his sister, too. Why should he owe loyalty to the family who'd abandoned him? Why should he work to fix the law in a far away land when so much needed to be set right here?

Klavier knew.

Klavier knew that Apollo Justice had been coming apart at the seams for the better part of a year.

This wasn't duty.

It was self-exile.

The taxi drew up under the streetlights in front of the office, and Ema Skye stepped out.

Ema had her familiar labcoat draped over one shoulder, but the dress she wore, high cut on the leg and body hugging with a long red scarf was something altogether new. Klavier was not so entirely distracted that he couldn't appreciate it.

She rubbed one hand on her neck as she squinted into the sunshine, her perfectly pinned hair already starting to fall out of the handsome bun she’d gotten it into.

“....Trucy? Klavier? I only expected one of you.”

Klavier hurried over to steady her, slipping an arm underneath hers, and letting her lean on him. "Well, lucky you, you got two when you imagined one."

“Hey Miss Ema!” Trucy chirped with her usual cheer. “How was the wedding?”

“Missed the bouquet,” Ema grumbled as he felt the full weight of an intoxicated detective fall against his side. “Stupid asshole Larry Butz ruined the whole thing, but the happy couple got to shoot into the sky.”

"Well,we'll see about getting you a bouquet, fraulein, and anything else you want. Maybe an ice pack, ja?" Klavier didn't stumble under her weight. He was used to drunk Ema. "Come on up to the office."

He started to lead her toward the door.

“Ooooh…the bouquet? Were you hoping for something when you caught it, Miss Ema?” Trucy asked cheerfully, though Klavier could tell it was forced.

“....absolutely not.” Ema turned a vivid red as she muttered. She hung on Klavier, resting her head against his shoulder. “An ice pack sounds nice...especially since Mr. Edgeworth cut me off of the free bar.”

"What an absolute villain of a man," Klavier sympathized performatively. He shared a glance with Trucy, and they led her upstairs.

Soon enough, they were situated in the office again, Ema now laid out in the ergonomic chair, which Klavier had pulled back to an almost sofa-life configuration for her, and he'd gotten an ice pack and bottled water for her from his mini fridge.

"There. Now we're on the road to recovery, ja?"

Ema gave him a weak smile, before she pressed her ice pack to her head with a low groan.

“Sorry you two couldn’t have been there. It was…” She trailed off for a moment, before finishing, “...weird.”

“Well, I guess millionaire’s weddings usually are.” Trucy mused as she crossed her arms.

"It's true," Klavier nodded. "The Gavinners played at the wedding of this particular actor one time and it was a very strange affair. I began to worry for the bride…. but that's neither here nor there. You're excused for not talking us along, Fraulein Ema."

Ema sat up with a wince, the world must have begun to spin from the rather nauseated look on her face. She pressed the ice pack firmly against her head again.

“Wasn’t like it was my choice, Klavier Gavin. I was only invited ‘cause Mr. Edgeworth needed a plus one and I’d helped solve the murder. Not like I had the authority to invite anyone.”

“You’re still excused.” Trucy said with a grin.

“Ugh.”

Klavier patted Ema on the shoulder. "Don't worry. There is an easy way to make it up to us."

“Yeah, there super is!” Trucy leaned in towards her.

Ema frowned, glancing between them with bleary eyes.

“....what are you two up to? You’re up to something. This isn’t…you want something, don’t you?”

"I've been missing you, Ema," Klavier purred, leaning down toward her. "Trucy and I have been catching up, and she told me you've been hanging out with herr forehead. You know I was wondering why I hadn't seen him around."

Ema flushed, and for a moment her mouth formed a wibbly little line that was almost a smile.

“I..I mean I’ve missed you too, glimmerous fop. A lo—a little. I was going to come visit after the damned wedding. You know I…My work keeps me busy!” She glanced at Trucy, who smiled angelically at her, before her eyes snapped back to Klavier. Her brow furrowed “I mean…he’s been busy too. In the Kingdom of Khura’in…he didn’t tell you?”

Klavier smiled quite widely, showing all his teeth.

"He did not." Not a phone call. Not a letter. Not a word. Klavier shook his head. "So, sweet fraulein, we humbly beg a simple favor of you. You are going to take us to Apollo Justice."

Ema pressed her ice pack to her eyes, and let herself fall back onto the chair with a low groan and a drunken sniff.

“I should have known this wouldn’t be a pleasure call.”

“We’re asking really nicely?” Trucy piped in, which only seemed to make Ema thunk her head against the chair much to her own regret.

“You wanna see Apollo Justice? Fine. Fine. The idiot didn’t think to tell you, then he’ll have to deal with the consequences. Pack a nice coat. Khura’in’s fucking cold.”

Klavier leaned down, and kissed Ema on the head just above her ice pack. "Thank you, fraulein."

“Sure,” Ema muttered, “I don’t know what you’re thinking you’ll find, though.” Still, she flushed when he kissed her head, despite her grumbling.

“Was extorting plane tickets out of me all you wanted, Gavin?”

"Absolutely not," Klavier smiled. "I'll call Trucy a taxi so she can work on getting her father's permission for time off of school, and I'll help you with your hangover."

“Oough….” Trucy sagged “...I forgot I’d have to get permission. Shoot.”

“The perils of being a teenager.” Ema snickered as the rest of the conversation clearly caught up to her and she flushed. She cleared her throat. “....Ah. oh. ..It is a pretty nasty hangover.”

Klavier reached for his cellphone. "Then it will need a pretty nasty cure, ja? Don't fret. Doktor Klavier is on the case."

September 31, 2028– 9:30 am (Khura'in time)

Apollo was standing in the lobby, leafing through the paperwork for the first case on the docket that day one more time. He couldn't believe they'd been doing this for three whole months– almost four now. It didn't feel like they'd made even a dent in all the cases that had to be retried…

It was a years long list of unjust convictions, but even still the number of people the Ga’ran regime had put behind bars for ‘dissent’ and ‘rebellion’ was staggering…especially when you were still the only lawyer in the country.

His concentration was broken by a soft knock on the lobby door.

"Huh?" he turned as the lobby door opened. There was only one person he knew who made a habit of being polite enough to knock on a public door, and it brought a smile to his face as he saw him enter.

Prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi smiled at him as he entered the room as serenely as always. Even under the weight of the cases that fell upon both their shoulders, and even under the stress of the life of a palace regent– he still had it in him to project that calming aura of his.

At least until they got into the courtroom.

“Good morning, Attorney Red Pepper.” he said with a teasing edge to his quiet smile.

Apollo felt the same little flustered sting he did every time Nahyuta called him by the silly nickname. At least it didn't feel quite so humiliating any more. Since he knew it was meant with love.

"Good morning, 'Yuta," he said with a deliberate, familiar smile. Then followed it up with his own tease. "I mean Prosecutor 'Yuta."

Nahyuta laughed , before his graceful stride brought him shoulder to shoulder with Apollo

“Careful with the pet names in the courtroom or our esteemed Judge may give us a look again.”

Apollo laughed and leaned his head against Nahyuta's shoulder. "Can't have that. I get enough dirty looks from the judge as it is."

Nahyuta’s hand rested atop Apollo’s head, rustling through his hair.

“Apollo….” his smile took on the barest trace of a wry smirk, imperceptible to most save for Apollo and a handful of others. “That’s because you keep trying to bluff your way through every argument…and startle even the Holy Mother with evidence that seems out of nowhere.”

Apollo laughed awkwardly, and arched against Nahyuta's hand, enjoying the fond touch.

"You'd think after a few months the judge would be used to it," he said with a shrug. "Besides, it's not that often, is it? A lot of these cases really are as straightforward as they looked the first time."

And thank lady justice that they were. Because there was a lot of them.

“I think he’s still reeling from the trauma of your…eccentric former employer and his particular brand of defense.” Nahyuta drawled. “But it’s true. Most of them are fairly simple…which is good, as we have a loaded docket today. Which is in fact what I’d come to talk to you about.”

Apollo's shoulders sagged

Don't tell me they added another case to the docket.

They probably did.

"Ah, yeah, 'Yuta? What's up?" Despite the cynical voice in the back of his mind, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Nahyuta with a hopeful smile.

Nahyuta’s smile was warm, but there was an exhaustion behind his eyes that Apollo knew too well.

“Miss Inmee has asked us to fast track another case for today. A former defense attorney who’s daughter works in the temple. It’s been insisted on by the former Queen Amarta that we add it to the docket today.”

Apollo felt a little weak at the knees at the very suggestion and he swooned against Nahyuta.

Easy there, Apollo. Come on, we can do it. Apollo Justice is fine, right?

Right.

He took a deep breath. "A former defense attorney. That's great. So if we overturn his sentence, he'll go back to defending cases– right? Please tell me he'll go back to defending cases."

So far, not a single person, Dragon or otherwise, they'd exonerated had gone back to practicing law.

“I wish I could read the karma of the man’s choices as well I can the karma of a case.” Nahyuta sighed. “We can hope, at the very least, that you…and I…can convince him.”

Apollo saw how his brow wrinkled just the slightest. It must have bothered him too. All these months and not a single practicing lawyer except Apollo Justice. Not a single prosecutor willing to stay active after the end of the Ga’ran regime except him.

Apollo grabbed Nahyuta's free hand and gave it a tight squeeze, looking up at him.

"Hey, whether we can or not, it'll be alright," he promised. "At least we've got each other."

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