Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney
– Turnabout Starters –
December 29, 2001 – 08:41 AM
Wedio General Hospital – Patient Room
December 28, 2001 was the date Miles’ life changed drastically.
For the worse, that is.
He just did not know it yet.
The sun creeping in what was awoke him, and his eyes slowly fluttered open; he sat up in his bed. The first thing that struck him was that everything was white around him. So white that it could not be natural, and this was when Miles thought something was off.
He did not what, though. His memories were still fuzzy and confused, and he could not remember for the life of him what had happened for him to be here. Because, he was quite sure now he was in a hospital.
Before he could reflect further on this, however, somebody knocked at the door and came in before Miles even allowed him too. It was a nurse, who had probably been working in this hospital for years, given her age. She was dressed in white, her grey hair tied back into a strict bun; she eyed Miles sternly before she told another person to come in. So, I have some visit, Miles thought, puzzled. He was even more surprised when he recognized who the person was.
She was in her thirties and had short curly black hair with piercing blue eyes. Her clothes were nothing extravagant, she had kept things simple by wearing a thick pullover with trousers and boots and had an anorak in her arms. It was winter, after all, so her outfit fitted the season. Except a wedding ring, she did not have any jewels or accessories on her, neither had she a scarf or gloves, but she removed her wooly hat when she stepped into the room. Her complexion was olive, but her smile was as bright as Miles remembered.
Mrs. Wright.
Miles had met her quite recently, actually, but his father had known her for much longer. It had all started when one of Edgeworth’s classmates had been accused of stealing his lunch money. If Miles had not known better, the poor boy would have been punished while he had not done anything. Funny how it had turned out that said boy’s parents were friends of Miles’ father. So it was only natural Miles had befriended Phoenix Wright, the child falsely accused of theft, and a certain Larry Butz, who, for a strange and unknown reason, had believed in Phoenix’s innocence too when the whole class had accused the latter.
Miles did not live with the Wrights, but he was quite sure Mrs. Wright was a very good mother. She was a widow, having lost her husband from cancer one year ago or so, just like Miles had lost his own mother in a car accident some years ago too. The mirroring of their situations was quite tragic. Despite that, Mrs. Wright had welcomed the Edgeworths with open arms, especially when she had known Miles had helped her son during a class trial. It had not surprised her that much, in truth: Gregory had been their lawyer during a tough case, and it was no surprise the son would grow up to be just like his father, one day.
Seeing a familiar face calmed down Miles a little, but even with Phoenix’s mother, he could tell something was definitely wrong. Was it in the way she behaved or in the joyful expression which was a bit too forced, the nine-year-old did not know. Maybe it was all that at once.
Mrs. Wright put her belongings on the chair in the corner of the room, and came to Miles’ side with the concerned look mothers have when they are worrying about their children. She put a hand on the boy’s forehead, while the nurse was silently staring at them.
“How are you feeling, Miles, dear?” Mrs. Wright asked, removing her hand. “Are you okay?”
“I… I think I’m fine,” the child replied, making the woman sigh in relief. “I can’t remember why I’m here though.”
“Oh, darling, there’s no need to hurry. We can take things one at a time. You should rest for now.”
Although Miles appreciated her concern, he did not feel like sleeping. He was fully awake, now, and was feeling quite well. What he wanted now was some answers about how he had ended up here.
“Phoenix isn’t here?”
“The hospital didn’t allow me to bring him here. My neighbor’s watching over him. We’ll both come to see you as soon as we can, okay?”
The boy nodded his head. He was glad to have Phoenix as his friend, and he could not wait for him to come and see him. They would talk about the brand new episodes of the Signal Samurai that were currently broadcasted on TV. Miles could not believe he had come to love this series that much. It was all because of Phoenix. And Larry too. Anyway, he was glad his friend was fine, but he still had some questions in his mind.
“What happened? Why am I at the hospital?”
Mrs. Wright bit her lips and looked at the nurse, who just shrugged. Miles was not sure what all that meant.
“So, you don’t remember anything…?”
He shook his head, and the mother sighed deeply before she answered. “You and your father were at the courthouse. Your father had a client to defend, and he took you with him because you wanted to see the trial.”
Miles’ memories slowly came back. That was right; his father had recently promised him he would let him attend one of his trials. The young boy still remembered how excited he was when he had woken up, yesterday morning. This was the first time his father had accepted him to come and watch one of his trials. As usual, Gregory’s performance had been quite impressive, and his son could not have been prouder of his father. Still, in the end…
“My father… I recall he lost the case… He told me he planned to appeal.”
“That’s right. After that, you both took the elevator.”
Ah, that was something Miles remembered too. He could even say there had been a third man in this elevator, with them, a black-haired man in his forties. He had introduced himself as Yanni Yogi, a bailiff. Apparently, he had a fiancée by the name of Polly, and they were apparently planning to get married soon; that was what Mr. Yogi had said anyway. He had pressed the button to go down, and indeed the elevator had gone down, until…
Miles’ eyes went wide with fear and he shivered.
… Until a violent earthquake struck.
Everything became clear from here for the young boy. He recalled the lights had flickered and gone out because of that earthquake, and if not for the emergency light, Mr. Yogi and the Edgeworths would have completely been in the dark.
Once the fear had passed, the only choice left had been to wait for the emergency services. Miles had sat with his back against the wall and had wrapped his arms around his knees. Gregory and the bailiff had sat in front of him, with their backs against the wall too. And then… the three of them had had to wait for what had been an eternity. One hour… Two hours… Three hours… Four hours… Five hours… And finally… There had been that moment. That moment when Mr. Yogi had started getting crazy because of the lack of oxygen.
“S–Stop breathing my air!”
He had grabbed Gregory by the collar, right in front of Miles, who had started to panic. He had felt something under his hand, something that was probably dangerous… but he had not realized what it was exactly. He had been so frightened to see the bailiff lash out at his father that he had thrown the object without even really thinking about it. He just wanted the fight between the two men to stop.
“Get away from my father!”
Only when he had heard the gunshot had he realized the thing he had thrown at the bailiff was a weapon. Probably some sort of pistol, even maybe Yogi’s. It did not matter in the end: the result was the same. There had been a gunshot. After that, Miles had heard a long, terrible and awful scream of pain and…
… it was a blackout after that. He did not remember anything else.
His heart started pounding faster inside his chest and his hands gripped the blanket tighter. Where is Father, now? What happened to him? And what happened to the bailiff? He looked up at Mrs. Wright with worry in his eyes.
“I… I’d like to see my father, please…”
The woman gasped and turned her head, unable to meet his eyes. Miles was surprised, because for the time he had known her, she had never looked away like that. She had never looked away at all.
“I’m afraid it won’t be possible, Miles.”
“Why? What happened? Where’s Father?!”
“He’s dead.”
It was not Phoenix’s mother who had spoken, but the nurse. Miles had nearly forgotten about her existence. She who had been so cold at first was now looking at him with some sort of pity in her eyes Miles had a hard time accepting. He could not just believe what he had heard. There was no way Gregory could be dead! He had said… He had said to his son and to Mr. Yogi everything would be fine! He had to be okay, he had to, because, without him…
… Miles had nothing left.
He was all alone.
He looked at Mrs. Wright with eyes full of hope, a foolish hope that she would deny the lie that nurse had just told him. He needed to be told all this was just a joke – and a pretty bad joke, at that – but when he heard her sadly muttering the world ‘sorry’, this was when he knew for sure all that had been said to him was the truth, nothing else.
To say his world crumbled was an understatement. Tears came to his eyes and rolled down his cheeks as he hiccupped violently, unable to speak because of the lump on his throat. Instead, he just sobbed in Phoenix’s mother’s arms, without stopping, and he even lost track of time. The only thing he could feel was the woman gently stroking his hair and whispering soft words to him.
He just cried, again and again.
***
Manfred von Karma was no man to wait.
When he wanted something, he did everything in his power to get it as soon as possible, just in the same way he did everything in his power to get a guilty verdict in court. He had been prosecuting for decades, and not a single defense attorney had been able to stand up against him. Well, not a single defense attorney still alive, that is. Of course, there had been that Gregory Edgeworth… but he had still lost in the end. And above all, he had been… dealt with, to say the least.
And now that he was dead, von Karma had one only obsession: to take Gregory Edgeworth’s son with him and to turn him against everything his foolish father had once believed in. He would make this boy become a perfect prosecutor under his control, and then… he would find a way to get rid of him. This child would be a puppet who would obey his orders, and he would get guilty verdicts just like Manfred. Von Karma would make him and his damn father pay for what they had done to him. The boy was so fragile and innocent… That was the perfect moment to mold him just like the prosecutor wanted. He wanted Miles, and he would have him.
This was why he was a bit upset to find there was already somebody in Miles’ room. He had hoped to be alone with that boy – the fewer people there was, the better – but he did not say anything and just glared at the woman. Edgeworth was stupidly crying in her arms. Manfred did not like how that woman was interfering, but it did not matter in the end; he was already taking care of the papers for the adoption, and soon, Miles would be his adoptive son.
“I would like the boy to be ready to go as soon as possible,” he informed the nurse.
“Very well. Given his good condition, he had no need to stay here any longer. I’m going to check when he’ll be allowed to leave.”
She never met the old prosecutor’s eyes and exited the room at the very moment when Mrs. Wright exclaimed: “Miles? Leave? But he’s mourning his father! He still need time to recover! And who are you anyway? You’re not a relative! You’re not even part of his family!”
Manfred glared at the woman with deep contempt and folded his arms. “I don’t care. I’m currently about to adopt him, and when the paperwork is done, he’ll come with me.”
Miles stopped crying and looked at the man with big fearful eyes. Mrs. Wright saw all the terror and the shock the poor little boy was going through right now, and she took him in her arms once again, embracing him protectively while he was shaking. Her eyes then met von Karma’s, and she gritted her teeth. This man did not mean any good for the now orphaned child, and she did not know what his plans were, but… by any means, she would not let the child go with a man who probably still held a grudge against said child’s father. Von Karma had a reputation, and Bonnie Wright had been told about the penalty he had been given due to Gregory exposing his unorthodox methods during the trial. To say he falsified evidence just to secure a guilty verdict… That was disgusting. How could anyone let Miles go with such a jerk just like that?!
On top of that, Gregory Edgeworth’s death was highly suspicious, to say the least. Miles and that bailiff, Yanni Yogi, were both unconscious when they had been found, after five hours, by the emergency services. There was no doubt Gregory had been shot right in the heart, and although the police was investigating, they apparently considered Yogi to be the culprit. Unlike Miles, he was not awake yet, but the both of them would be heard by the police anyway.
Still… Until then, Miles needed comfort. And Mrs. Wright did not intend to let that prosecutor take him away without doing anything to stop it. She took a deep breath and looked fiercely at the man. If he thought he could have anything just by demanding, then he was for a surprise.
“You have no right to do so! Gregory entrusted me with the custody of his son should anything happen to him!”
If Manfred was puzzled by the woman’s words, he did not show it. He had not expected that damn Edgeworth to leave the upbringing of his child to someone, but that was barely a hindrance. He would deal with this soon enough. All he wanted was the child, to turn him into somebody who would fight against everything his brat of a father had always believed in. He was determined.
“You have no say in that, woman. I will take the child, no matter what.”
“Over my dead body,” Mrs. Wright spitted out, glaring daggers at the old man, embracing the child even more tightly. “As for now, Miles is under my care, as Gregory wished. I will prove it at the courthouse, and when everything will be in order, Miles will come to live with us and you will never see nor touch the child again!”
Von Karma was now full of fury and rage, and he started rushing to that woman and the child threateningly, but he finally thought better. He could not lose his temper like this. The woman had probably her doubts on Edgeworth’s death, and if she started investigating and discovered the truth behind that case… his perfect career would be over, and that was something he could not afford. No, there was only one way to have the custody of the kid, it was to go to the courthouse and fight Mrs. Wright. With that, he was sure there would not be any problems.
He smugly wagged his finger in front of him and smirked viciously. “You’re right, Mrs. Wright. Let’s take care of this kind of things like the grown-ups we are, shall we? Everything will be settle in court soon enough.”
Miles was still looking at the old prosecutor in awe, and the latter glared back at him with huge contempt. To say he was doing all this for revenge… But he wanted this revenge. He despised the Edgeworths above all, and dealing with the child of the man he had killed was such a sweet revenge! He would have given everything just to see the face of the man as his son would be raised to be everything his dear father had been fighting against…
And on that thought, von Karma left the room.
Bonnie Wright sighed, and stroke Miles’ hair gently.
“Will I have to live with that man?” he asked, looking at her with eyes full of terror, sadness and uncertainty.
“No you won’t. I’m the one who will be in charge of you. I have paperwork to do, but once it’s done, you’ll move in with me and Phoenix. No harm will be done to you. I swear. Everything will be alright.”
Miles nodded, reassured. He was so glad he did not have to go with that prosecutor. He had never wanted to. He clearly preferred to grow up with his best friend Phoenix. And Bonnie had told him that everything would be fine, so he could finally rest, now.
They could not have been more wrong.
On January 4, 2002, the judge officially entrusted Miles Edgeworth’s custody to Bonnie Wright, much to von Karma’s furor. On that same day, while the day was coming to an end, Mrs. Wright was murdered in strange conditions. The identity of the killer remained unknown.
Phoenix became an orphan too, and Miles never got the chance to live with the Wrights.