This feature was submitted by GameCola superfan Diana Gray (aka Diana141). Check out the previous chapters here if you missed them!
Michael anxiously paced around the Prosecutor’s Lobby. Diana fidgeted nervously on the small couch, her fingers drumming on her knees, eyes flicking back and forth between Michael and the door to the courtroom. It was obvious that both of them were on edge. “How are we going to do this?” Diana said suddenly, breaking the silence abruptly.
“We don’t have to,” Michael replied, clasping his hands behind his back and continuing to pace. “We want Jeddy to get an acquittal.”
“I know that,” Diana said indignantly. “I just… I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is happening because of this case.” Michael paused and gave her a confused look. “I know, it sounds crazy, but given everything that’s happened so far…” She trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes.
“Have you tried writing anything about this?” he asked.
She was nodding even before he finished. “I’ve tried already,” she muttered. “But it’s like there’s a block when it comes to myself or any of you guys. I can’t change the story this person is creating. The second it’s all over, I’ll try to write us home, but I don’t think I can do anything to help us until then.”
Michael sighed. “Okay,” he said.
The door leading to the outside hallway opened and another figure stepped in. “Are you two ready?” Miles Edgeworth asked. Diana stood up and moved just behind Michael.
“Hopefully,” Michael said. “Our first witness is Detective Gumshoe…”
“Just don’t let him bumble around too much on the stand. He tends to get off-topic easily,” Edgeworth told them firmly.
“Okay,” Michael replied, making a mental note, despite not really having to. He’d played the game enough to know that Gumshoe was not the most trustworthy witness.
“What are you doing here?” Diana asked curiously.
Edgeworth checked his watch. “I have a trial. It starts in an hour.”
“And where’s Madeline?” Diana continued, looking around as if she expected her OC to pop out of nowhere.
“She’s supposed to be meeting me in the lobby in a few minutes. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised she didn’t come to see you two.” He frowned and excused himself, wishing them luck one more time.
The door opened and the bailiff stepped into the lobby. “The trial is beginning. Please enter the courtroom.”
Michael took a deep breath and turned to look for Diana. She was hastily scrawling on a single piece of paper. She flipped it over and he could see that the front was already packed with tiny handwriting. “What are you doing?” he asked.
She looked up. “Something to ensure that the trial goes in our favor,” she replied, gesturing for him to go inside. “I can’t do anything about us, but everyone else…” She paused and sighed. “I can at least try, right? It’s not done yet though, so just… take it slow, okay?”
The bailiff led Jeddy into the courtroom and he took a seat behind Phoenix. Maya turned around and gave him a thumbs up. Jeddy gave her a weak smile in return. He craned his head to look at the evidence on the desk in front of Phoenix. It was practically empty, holding only the autopsy report, the razor, a few other miscellaneous papers, and squarely in the center, a pen, wrapped in an evidence bag. Phoenix had come by the detention center late last night and showed it to him, asking if Jeddy had ever seen it before. He’d shaken his head, and the questioning session had been over.
Michael and Diana took their places at the prosecution bench. Diana was still frantically scribbling, while Michael glanced around the courtroom. People were talking in the gallery and across the courtroom, Phoenix and Maya were whispering to each other. Something caught his eye above their heads: people moving, trying to find seats. It was the rest of the staff, settling into places in the crowd. They waved at the pair before poking Jeddy in the back, then pretending like they hadn’t done it.
The crowd fell silent as the judge took his place at his bench and Michael was impressed. The judge’s beard was even more fantastic in person. He glanced over at Paul. He was rubbing his chin and frowning at the judge. Diana noticed and smirked.
“You men and your beards…” she muttered, raising an eyebrow at him before continuing to write.
“Court is now in session for the trial of Alex Jede-… er, Jeda-”
“Jeddy,” called the defendant helpfully from his seat.
“Ah, alright, Jeddy.” The judge leaned forward. “Are both sides ready?”
“The defense is ready, Your Honor,” Phoenix said.
“The, er, prosecution is ready,” Michael replied, looking at the judge and trying not to be intimidated by the fantastic beard.
“Mr. Gray, this is your first time in court, correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Well, it’ll be a trial by fire. We take beard murders VERY seriously around here, Mr… Jeddy,” the judge said sternly, glaring at Jeddy.
“Why does he always look at my clients like they’re automatically guilty?” Phoenix muttered to Maya, frowning. Out loud, he continued with, “Your Honor, my client hasn’t been formally charged of anything.”
“Oh, yes, yes, of course,” the judge spluttered, tearing his eyes away from the man in the defendant’s chair. “Prosecutor Gray, if you would summarize the case for the court, please.”
“Oh, okay,” Michael said, a little nervous. He looked toward Diana, but she gave him a look that told him he was on his own and resumed writing. “Well, from what we’ve gathered, the victim and the defendant were in a room together. While the victim was unconscious, the defendant shaved off his beard using the razor that was found on his person, then tried to escape as the victim woke up and confronted him. As he tried to leave the room, he tripped over a ladder and knocked himself out, which is where he was found when the police arrived.” Diana nodded approvingly.
“I see…” the judge said thoughtfully. “Does the defense have anything to say?”
“The defense maintains that the defendant is innocent of all charges, and would also like to add that it was a stepladder, not a ladder.”
“Hey Nick,” Maya whispered, “didn’t I say that at the crime scene?” Phoenix wisely chose to ignore her for the time being.
“The court takes this into account, although I fail to see what importance the type of ladder has on the case.” Phoenix scratched his head, smiling awkwardly. “The prosecution may call its first witness.”
“I’d like to call the detective in charge of the scene to the stand.” He vaguely remembered Edgeworth saying something like that.
The bailiff escorted the detective to the witness stand, where he was sworn in. “Witness, name and occupation, please,” Michael said.
“Dick Gumshoe, pal. I’m a detective in charge of homicides down at the local precinct.” Michael was a little miffed that Gumshoe didn’t call him ‘sir’. Apparently he didn’t command as much respect as Miles Edgeworth.
“Detective, can you testify about the facts on the case, as you see them?”
“Sure, pal.”
Witness Testimony
–Facts of the Case—
“Well pal, the case is pretty much exactly as you said.”
“The defendant was the only one found on the scene.”
“What’s more, his fingerprints were found all over the murder weapon.”
“I don’t think any more evidence is needed, do you, pal?”
Michael was surprised to hear such a solid testimony from Gumshoe; usually there were glaring errors. Diana caught his eye and shoved a piece of paper toward him. He glanced down to see the exact same testimony written on it. “Now we’ll let him do his thing,” she said, nodding at Phoenix.
“You’re not going to-”
“Where’s the fun in that?” she interrupted, laughing quietly as the cross-examination began.
The blue-suited attorney didn’t say anything until the last statement (Diana and the staff were amused to learn that cross-examinations worked the way they did in the games: the witness repeated the testimony word-for-word until stopped). “Hold it!!!” Phoenix yelled, startling everyone. “Do you have proof that my client wasn’t framed?”
“Objection!!!” Michael yelled almost without thinking. “Do you have proof that he was framed, Mr. Wright?”
“As a matter of fact, I do!” Phoenix replied, still at the same volume.
“Oh yeah? Well, let’s see it!” Michael challenged. Maya and Diana exchanged a look, both clearly trying not to laugh.
“Take that!!!” Phoenix held up the pen. “Jeddy clearly stated that he has never seen this before, right?” He looked up at the defendant for confirmation. Jeddy shook his head. “This pen links a third person to the scene!” Phoenix slammed his hands in his desk. “The defense claims that this person took advantage of the situation, murdering Mr. Franzen’s beard and framing my client.
Meanwhile…
Madeline came to in a dark room. A shadowy figure was circling around her. “You might as well just turn the lights on,” she said calmly. “I already know who you are.” As the person disappeared, she casually tried to move and discovered that her wrists and ankles were bound. She rolled her eyes as the lights flickered to life. “Why did you do this?” Madeline asked. “What could you possibly gain from kidnapping me?”
“I need a guilty verdict in the beard murdering case. That is the condition for your safe return. I will send a note to Mr. Edgeworth shortly.”
“Wh-what?” Madeline said in confusion. “We re-assigned that case! To the new prosecutor!” The person looked fazed for a second, frowning, then paused. A sinister smile spread over the person’s face.
“Hmm… actually, this almost works out better.”
“So you’ll let me go?” Madeline asked hopefully, but she knew the answer.
“No.” Then there was darkness.
Meanwhile (again)…
“Court is now in session.” The judge’s brother smoothed his not-quite-as-glorious beard and looked out over the courtroom. “Are both sides prepared?”
“The defense is ready, Your Honor.” Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. He’d never seen this man before, but that wasn’t entirely uncommon in this line of work. Something was bothering him quite a bit more, however. Madeline still hadn’t made an appearance or checked in with him. He frowned, but tried to push it out of his mind.
“The prosecution… was born ready.” Edgeworth smirked. Might as well scare the new attorney a little bit.
“Well, in that case, it seems that we are ready to begin, eh?” the judge’s brother said, frowning. ‘Why is it that my brother always gets the exciting beard murder cases, while I’m stuck with the boring old regular murder cases?’ he wondered. ‘It must be because my beard isn’t fabulous enough!’ he decided suddenly, stroking said beard. ‘I really need to-’ His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to continue with the trial. “Ah, yes, er, Prosecutor Edgeworth, please give us the facts of the case.” He stared at Edgeworth for a second longer than necessary. Hadn’t he seen this man on the other side of the courtroom…?
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Edgeworth said quickly. “Yesterday evening-”
He was interrupted as a policeman opened the door to the courtroom. “What is this?” the judge’s brother asked, gazing sternly at the officer in question.
“I’m very sorry, Your Honor sir, but I’ve been instructed to give this to Prosecutor Edgeworth.” He held up an envelope, looking nervous.
“Well, get on with it, then. We don’t have all day, eh?” the judge’s brother said impatiently. The policeman extended a shaking hand to Edgeworth, who snatched the envelope out of his hand. He slit it open and his gray eyes scanned the contents. His face changed and he fixed the officer in a chilly glare.
“Who gave you this?” he choked out, banging his hand on his desk.
“I, er, I don’t know, sir,” the poor policeman stuttered. “I found it on my desk when I reported for duty, sir, with instructions to give it to you.”
Edgeworth took a deep breath. “Your Honor, I know this is highly irregular, but I need you to put this trial on hold.”
“Mr. Edgeworth, I-” But it was too late. The burgundy-suited prosecutor had already hurried out of the courtroom, doors swinging behind him.
“Can you prove-” Michael’s clearly well-thought out statement was cut short as the doors were thrown open and Miles Edgeworth stormed into the courtroom. Everyone was shocked, but no one more so than Diana as the clearly angry prosecutor stopped in front of her and slammed a piece of paper down onto the desk in front of her. “Miss Gray, what is the meaning of this?” he asked furiously. Diana picked up the note with trembling fingers. Michael read over her shoulder.
Mr. Edgeworth,
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that your assistant is missing. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be too hard to track her down. Just ask Miss Gray and her friends.~R.K
“Madeline’s missing?” Diana breathed, feeling faint. Miles Edgeworth’s furious face swam back into focus in front of her. “No… no… Mr. Edgeworth, you’ve got to believe me, I don’t have anything to do with this.”
“Your Honor,” Phoenix said abruptly from the other side of the courtroom. Everyone looked at him as though they’d forgotten he was there. “I think we need a recess.”
“Yes, yes, certainly.” The judge banged his gavel. “We will now have a ten minute recess so the prosecution can… er…” He wisely chose to abandon speaking and the gavel banged once more.
For more of Diana’s fanfiction, check out her FanFiction.net page here!
Awkwaaaard!
Your cliffhangers are getting better and better. 🙂
Now there is no telling how awesome the next one will be. 😉
I call going down the slide first!
I love this story! I am now really excited what Edgeworth will say.
Thanks guys! 😉
Sorry for the lack of chapter, GameCola faithful! Currently on a train speeding back to the airport so I can fly home to free WiFi! Thank god for Amtrak and their free WiFi, I can at least get started! Chapter next week, promise!
Don’t worry. No one is rushing you. (Well, none of us are.)
😉