The second part to my post about my au!! The first part is here.
Susato and Ryu still end up living with Sholmes. And everything is chill, however he's a but more active, since he's not as mature and calm due to a child. Gregson also takes Gina under his wing. I HC that in og games , before Stronghart, Van Zieks and Gregson wanted to change the judiciary system and one of these changes were more rights to the poor. And since in this au Gina also got a bit screwed over by Gregson, he felt bad and took her in. Hell, mb she'd live with Sholmes and train with Tobias.
Also a few times Ryu and Susato meet a strange woman with pink hair with grey streaks and a child, even in the first game. We meet this kid a lot, we learn that her name is Iris and despite being English, it was her first time in London. The lady is very nice and polite. But also she's very smart and shows a genuine interest in Great Exhibition. She says that she was always fascinated by forensic science. However she isn't without her quirks. Whenever Van Zieks names are mentioned she falls silent, and when Ryu says that Gregson is nearby with Gina, she quickly leaves. They also meet a masked apprentice. He's back, you know who it is. He works under their friend's brother. Klint is built up as a legendary honorable and just prosecutor, who is super tough and cursed.
After another trial Ryu and Susato find the loot, that was stolen from Van Zieks. Gregson and Sholmes immediately recognize it and quickly try to hide it, by giving it to police. However Sholmes has a strange request: Not to tell anyone about what they found. Gregson does subtly imply that he would rather ask the owners about the condition of this treasure, but Sholmes insists that no one must know about it. Ryu and Susato are weirded out by this convo, cuz it seems like a lot of information is being kept from them.
However some crime happened. Gregson and Gina still can't investigate, but something weird happens. When Gregson sees the lady, he falls silent and seems dumbfounded. He quickly leaves after her. Gina doesn't know what is happening, and Ryu jokes about Gregson having a type. Tobias did act kinda weird around Iris. As if he had some idea, but didn't believe it.
Gregson recognizes Lady Baskerville. He wants to talk to her, however she has none of it. Despite her attempts to leave, Tobias catches up to her and starts questioning her. Susato and Ryu don't witness it, as they're busy talking to Gina and Iris. Gregson begs her to at least answer a few of his questions. Lady Baskerville complies. She tells him that she left because she couldn't trust Klint anymore. She didn't know him anymore (hadestown moment). When Gregson inquires to the reason, Lady Baskerville responds with silence. As a true gentleman he can't keep pressing her. He asks for a confirmation of another thought. Is Iris hers and Klint's daughter? He had this suspicion for a long time. She nods. Gregson is even more dumbfounded. He asks if she needs any help: financial or any other. Lady Baskerville is glad to see that despite a decade that passed Tobias stayed the same nice friend she knew. However the mood sours when he asks if he should inform Klint about his kid being alive and well. She begs Tobias not to tell him anything. She confesses that what Klint once did was so unforgivable, she doesn't want to be associated with van Zieks name anymore. With heavy heart he complies. Another secret he had to now hide from his best friend and protégée.
Meanwhile Gregson sets up an apartment on Fresno Street where he hides Balmung's collar there. Yup, he's still a little bit corrupt. He's scared that his suspicions would be correct, and that's a real human blood.
Barok isn't dumb. He feels that something changed in his mentor. He can sense guilt and shame. And he sees that Gregson and Klint's dynamic change. They even have a little spat, that lead nowhere. So with a heavy heart he starts to investigate Gregson to find out what happened. He finds out about Fresno Street.
Kazuma regains his memories similarly to the original. Tuspelles creates a statue of Genshin as the last victim of a professor.
Stronghart orders Kazuma to kill Gregson, to fulfill his end of the deal. Kazuma thinks that Gregson purposefully fumbled the investigation around his father's death. He thinks he purposefully helped Klint to evade justice. And he wants to avenge his father, ruin Van Zieks family forever. Meanwhile Mael orders Gregson to apprehend a dangerous criminal (Seishiro) on a grouse ship. Tobias was supposed to be sent to Paris and despite his protest, he couldn't change Lord chief justice's decision.
When Gregson and Kazuma entered the ship, they have a similar conversation as in canon. Kazuma threatens Gregson with newly acquired Karuma, but he doesn't bat an eye. Their dialogue was about how he helped Klint to evade justice. Gregson responds that he did and that he holds an evidence that might prove conclusive.
"You won't give it to me?"
"Even if it'll cost your life?"
Karuma still breaks, ect. Kazuma however can't bring himself to kill him. And disembarks the ship. Gregson stays and gets promptly assaulted by Seishiro, who didn't know that Kazuma was alive. But after he choked him out and left him to lie around before the seaman leaves, Seishiro turns around to think about his actions. Gregson woke up and decided to run off for a backup. Seishiro only managed to shoot him in the shoulder. Gregson disembarks the ship, leaving his trunk behind.
In short, Kazuma and Gregson are in France, Jigoku is on his way to Britain. There he kills someone similar to Gregson to attempt to fool Stronghart. He put the corps in the appartment on Fresno Street, leaving gregson's trunk and documents with the corpse and arranging the scene as in canon.
Barok gets into this mess and as in canon gets accused of the murder.
Klint decides to prosecute him and control the whole hearing. After that he'll sent him away to Germany/Netherlands. Easy peasy, right?
Ryunosuke gets hired for this case and him, Susato and Gina set out to investigate the case. They feel something is off.
Trial goes smoothly, tho it gets delayed for a second day, due to Kazuma showing up and accusing Barok and Klint for being professor/the reaper.
The trial doesn't become any more sensible when Gregson himself shows up from the dead and tries to figure out wtf is going on. Him and Gina happily reunite, but the fun doesn't last forever. There's still accusations of being a reaper/professor after all.
Stronghart assumes the position of the judge and ect. The trial is hard, but Ryunosuke starts to figure out the truth and accuses Klint of everything. They figure out that Jidoku killed the man (ofc not without Sholmes' and Yujin's help), but the trial doesn't stop. they have some evidence, but not enough. Yujin and Maria or Sithe testify about the autopsy being fake. However it's still not enough and Sholmes urges Gregson to fess up. Barok begs Ryunosuke to prove it wrong, to say it was the worst joke in juducial history.
The trial goes on recess and before anyone could notice, Gregson disappeared. When the trial began the work to actually prove the accusations was very hard. Stronghart nearly closed the case, but in true ace Attorney fashion, Gregson comes back and repeats one of my hcs. He says that he sent the collar to the forensics that can determine if the blood is human or not. That would finally connect Klint to the professor case and be a definitive evidence. Stronghart threatens to take Gregson's job away for this insolence and claims that the evidence is illegal. However Tobias says that he doesn't care if he'll lose his badge. His life is over now. He trusted Klint for the past two decades, he shared his and Barok's idea, he followed their ideology to a t. And now he sees how much lies and betrayal he was a victim of. He's ready to lose his job, for he already lost his trust in judiciary and any semblance of the possibility for anything to change (if it's true what they say.... I'll be on my way... Tell me what to do.. If it's true, if it's true what they saaaaayyyyyyyy). The results come in, from Lady Baskerville (under a pseudonym ofc). Iris brought it and gave it to Gregson. He could barely muster the words as he read the results "the blood is human. There is no trace of animal blood"... Barok screams in agony, Gregson goes pale. Ryu and Susato see how this affected everyone, but still push on. And Klint seemingly accepted his fate, finally finding a way to escape this horrors. However his confession means nothing. There's no proof.
Unless..... Kazuma, gimme karuma for a sec. Idk how they get there, but they do.
The papers are found, stronghart is exposed, he tries to wiggle his way out of it, herlock and the queen ect ect.
The juiciest part is in the end.
Barok is pronounced not guilty, tho it's not a good time for him. Barok is in shock. He feels betrayed by Gregson for hiding the evidence, but mostly by Klint for, yknow, EVERYTHING. Stronghart is taken away immediately, but Klint gets a chance to speak to others. He deeply thanks Susato and Ryunosuke for their work in uncovering the truth, for being brave, when he couldn't. He apologize before Asogi for all the pain he's done. He apologizes to Barok for what he's done and begs him not to let this stop him from life. Lady Baskerville shows up. She asks Iris to call them a cab and has her last conversation with Klint. She says that she can't forgive him for this, but decided to let him see their daughter at least once. To see what a nice and fun girl she has grown up to be. Klint deeply thanks her. Before Iris can return Gregson, who was silent before, speaks up. He says that he's disappointed in who Klint turned out to be. He searches for a man, a friend he knew, but now he sees that this man is long gone. Tobias feels like he can't continue working, as he feels responsible for all of this. He sees the errors in their ideology and without it, he can't continue anymore. However Gina quickly speaks up, saying that she wasn't expecting Gregson to lose his spirit so quickly. He gave her a second chance in life, so mb he should give himself it too. Gregson says that he'll think about it, he's probably going to stay for Gina and Barok. He believes that he's the person of the old judiciary and now it's a responsibility for the younger folks to change the system, while he can only help. The last thing he says is that this is the last thing he does for Klint and now he has to arrest him (the second divorce Klint has to endure). Klint thanks him and is promptly taken away.
Everything else stays the same. Ryunosuke and Susato have to go back to Japan, but Iris and Lady Baskerville invite the gang for a "see you soon" dinner. Even Kazuma, Gregson and Barok show up, despite still clearly being out of it. Everything ends on this bittersweet note. The truth is revealed, people are hurt, but it's still better than living a lie.
