It wasn’t often for him to have dreams of the past. Actually, they rarely happened.
Thing is, he wasn’t overly upset about what’s happened when he was a kid; he was obviously in a much better place now. But those missing memories of a parent liked to sneak in from time to time.
To be frank, he had no idea as to why, but guess it was the mind playing tricks on a person.
‘Apollooooo.’
Okay, now who was that? Their voice sounded shaky but it was obviously a girl. They chanted his name again but he didn’t move, his body feeling like dead weight. Oh, wait, he wasn’t dead, right? No of course not.
‘Apollo?’
This was starting to get annoying. He kept his eyes closed in hopes that the voice would simmer down and leave him alone but that was obviously a very bad choice.
“Polly!”
Something soft smacked the side of his head and it nearly gave him a heart attack. At least he wasn’t dead but he might as well be. Apollo flung his arms around in the direction of...whatever hit him, prior to falling off the couch.
Ok, no doubt about who literally smacked him across the face.
“What the heck!?”
Trucy grinned.
“You were really sleeping hard, huh, Apollo?”
Apollo frowned.
“Until you hit me.”
He hoped his expression was enough to show how unreasonable her actions was but the young magician just smiled. So much for that.
Apollo pushed himself off the floor, this time choosing to sit on the couch. Trucy stood there, hopping in place as she normally did, but said nothing else. The silence dragged on longer than he hoped.
“Okay,” he started out, “...did you need me for something?”
“Oh! Right! Well, I needed your opinion.”
“On?”
“Hold your horses!” Trucy pulled off her hat to sit it down on the table. It must be some sort of magic trick---but wasn’t she hesitant in showing magic tricks to people? Well, not the trick itself but the actual work behind it. Maybe not.
Apollo watched the young girl swirl her finger around the rim before pulling out a blue-ish type of card. From what he could tell, it appeared to be a type of ‘Thank You’ card but he was still waking up so it could be anything.
“Now, does this card look alright to you? Well, so far.”
Apollo took it from her hands, glancing over it as he blinked his eyes clear. With closer inspection, no doubt it was a card, but it didn’t have any sort of greeting on it. Instead, it was fairly blank. The only thing that decorated it were a few positive words on the front and some drawings of cards. He assumed it was to implicate her deck of cards.
“Um, well, it looks fine to me. A little empty but I’m assuming that’s why you said ‘so far’.”
“Really? Whew, I’m glad! Was a bit worried.” Trucy took the card back, flipping it all over as if something else where hidden on it. Guess he’d have to ask her now.
“Is there something special going on? Who’s the card for?”
“For Athena. She’s been through a lot, you know? So, thought I would make her a card to show how thankful I am. Not sure if it will help, but...better than nothing!”
She sounded nervous about the idea. But what she said was true; after that last trial, no one was put through more stress than Athena. Everyone was worried about her, and how she’s been holding up, but guess it was a bit too hard to bring back up. It was nice that Trucy chose to make something from scratch to help her out though.
“Apollo...?”
“Hm?” It took her voice for him to realize he was prodding his forehead with his index finger again.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you have that weird habit of poking yourself whenever you’re thinking really hard.”
Really? Apollo stopped immediately---guess that much was obvious.
“I’m fine. Hey, you know what? How about I help you?”
He said the words a bit too fast, hoping to cut off any sort of concern statement she was about to make. Trucy’s expression said it all. It turned from being worried, curious, to surprise.
“Seriously? Well, I wasn’t going to ask you, with you sleeping and all...”
“Then why did you wake me up??”
“Because I needed an opinion! And it would be pretty funny to see how you’d react.”
(So, mainly for your amusement.) Not as if he should expect much else. Everyone in this whole place, save for Pearl, teased the heck out of him. Maybe he was just a little bit less irritable today. Swallowing his encroaching sarcasm, Apollo focused on the plan at hand.
“Well, whatever. Let’s get started before she gets back.”
Where in the world did she go, anyway? Her and Mr. Wright must have taken Pearl back to the train station. At least, that’s what his mind could recall before falling asleep.
Trucy sat beside him on the couch, taking out a clipboard from her magical...undergarments that he could never get used to.
(Geez, Apollo, you’d think this would be the norm after seeing it for so long.)
Maybe it was simply far too weird for him to comprehend but he stopped commenting on it so much.
“What did you want on it? I see you drew some already.”
“You don’t think it looks childish, right? I thought leaving it blank would be boring, so I drew the first thing that came to mind.”
“Hm...”
He didn’t think it looked childish, but random cards wouldn’t make much sense would it? Trucy stared at him, probably dying to hear an answer.
“How about you draw your, uh...” He hesitated, feeling his body deflate at the silly suggestion in his mind, “...Mr. Hat? And Athena’s freaky device thing. Um, what’s its name? Gidget?”
“Widget.” Trucy corrected with a smile. “But that sounds like a great idea! Maybe I can act as if they’re the ones saying what’s on the front.”
Apollo nodded in agreement as he watched Trucy begin to erase the previous drawings. Despite being a bit groggy from his interrupted nap, it was impossible to feel frustrated.
He complained a lot about his co-workers, and boss especially, but he knew how important they all were. Family wasn’t always blood-related.
Huh. What a weird train of thought.
By the time Trucy has finished, the front of the card actually looked a lot better than before. Apollo picked it up, glancing it over while Trucy looked as if she was waiting for his approval. Geez, no pressure.
“Lookin’ good. Now all that’s left is the inside. Do you know what you’re going to say?”
“Ah, not exactly. I want to thank her for everything, say how brave she is, tell her we’re always around for her whenever she needs it. That sounds like too much, doesn’t it?”
“Nah,” he said quickly, “...it’s probably the best way to get your point across. You can easily say all that on these two pages. Or even on the back if you’d want.”
Trucy rubbed her lips, before beginning to write down her thoughts. Apollo knew she was a smart girl---technically she didn’t even need his help for this. Sure, he understood the opinion part, but the rest? She was better with words than him.
“What made you ask me for help?” Apollo blurted out. Oh wait.
“Why wouldn’t I ask for your help?”
He sighed.
“....That’s basically asking me the same question.”
“If you must know, it’s because I know you’re just as worried for Athena. We all are. I would normally ask daddy but...he’s not here of course.”
“Ah, right, of course---”
“But not only that.” She cut him off.
“Before you and Athena came, it was just me and daddy. Now, that wasn’t a problem, and it still isn’t, but it’s a lot more fun to have people around. I consider you and Athena my big brother and sister.”
He remembered that before. Though Trucy went a bit all out with considering him a ‘long lost brother’ or something like that. How in the world would meeting a stranger classify as all that in a short span of time? He didn’t have that much impact on people....did he?
“You guys are the best at your jobs, plus it’s fun to hang out with you! So, y’know, thought I’d ask. Sorry for waking you up though.”
Apollo rubbed his forehead before giving Trucy a few pats on her head.
“It’s fine. Not like I was having a good dream anyway. Just...figure out better ways to wake people up, okay? I nearly died!”
“Psh, you’re fiiiiine. That’s what you always say, right? I’m Apollo Justice and I’m fine!” She mocked.
Apollo gritted his teeth.
“Ha. Ha. That’s my line.” Quite literally.
“You have to say it with your gut.” He said, giving a few pats to his stomach.”That way, you put more volume into it!”
Trucy looked exasperated.
“Are you teaching me how to yell really loud? You already got Athena doing it, daddy might go insane if I join in.”
“I’m sure Mr. Wright will live. Don’t even worry about him. Now, how about giving it a try?”
“Uh...” Trucy looked back down at her card. Crap, maybe he was getting a bit ahead of himself.
“Oh, wait, you’d probably be best at finishing your work, hah.” A nervous laugh escaped him only to hear Trucy immediately yelling---
“I’m Trucy Wright and I’m fine!!”
---really loudly next to his ear.
Apollo backed up against the arm of the couch as a response. Trucy smiled.
“Was that good?”
“U-Uh, yeah. Pretty good. Guess you got some great Chords of Steel yourself.” So much so it nearly made him fall off the couch...again.
“You two are pretty loud. Could hear you all the way out in the hallway!” Athena stated as she walked in. Mr. Wright slipped on in right behind her.
“No worries, just practicing!” Trucy quickly stated as she placed the card in her hat.
“More training with your vocal chords?” Mr. Wright questioned, looking directly at Apollo.
“Uhhhhhh....sure?” Goodness, did it really bother him?
“Aw, that means I missed out on it. Well, always next time.” Athena placed her bags down on the floor, next to the couch. But before she could get any further away, Trucy stood in front of her.
“Hm? What’s up, Trucy?”
“I wanted to give you this first! Just a little ‘Thank you’ from me and Apollo.”
From him as well? Guess she wanted to include him since he offered his opinion but he obviously didn’t do anything unlike herself.
Athena took the card, glancing over the little drawings of Mr. Hat and Widget before taking a look inside.
"Athena, there’s so much I want to say but this is such a tiny card so I’ll try to be quick.” Athena read out loud.
“You’re strong, smart, determined, (super pretty!), and brave. You give us the courage to continue on with our lives and occupations with no doubts. You give us the strength to look forward to the future with no hesitation.
Just wanted to give you a pep talk after all that’s happened. And that we love you! You’re like a big sister (little sister to Polly; trust me, he admits it) to us. So keep on rockin’!”
Athena held onto the card for a while, the room dripping with silence for who knows how long. It was starting to make him uncomfortable.
“You guys...I don’t know what to say---”
“You don’t have to say anything.” Apollo spoke up. “We just wanted to say how nice it’s been having you around. Might as well accept the compliment.”
“Yeah!” Trucy joined in. “I’m sure daddy feels the exact same way.”
Athena stayed silent, eventually pulling Trucy in for a hug. Who, in turn, grabbed Apollo’s wrist to pull him in as well.
“Th-The heck?!”
“Shush, Polly, you’re part of this too!”
Apollo internally groaned as he felt Mr. Wright join in the group hug. This was weird.
“Thanks. All of you. I couldn’t ask for better friends. Or, should I say, family members?”
Well, it was still pretty awkward, but Apollo smiled along with the rest of them.
Yeah, guess it could be considered a family. A weird one where everyone practically got on his nerves in some shape or form, but a functional unit nonetheless.
