Work Text:
> October 27, 2020, 2:05 PM
> Maya Fey’s Bedroom
The girl glanced at her phone once more. It had been over a year since her best friend’s... situation... had started. It hurt. It hurt her so much that maybe if she had been in town for that fateful trial, instead of opting to go, what, see a movie premiere? Maybe then one of the people she cared about most wouldn’t be royally screwed right now. And it was all her fault. ‘No, Nick, it’s just one case, you can handle it without me!’ God, she was stupid.
Her phone buzzing again brought her out of her trance. It was the reminder she set that told her it was Mr. Edgeworth’s last day in the country before he left again to work in Europe.
She sighed, stared at the screen for a moment, then pressed call on the number Phoenix had given her a few years prior.
----
It was true that Miles Edgeworth had agreed to come here unpressured, but that didn’t ease his confusion. He had never been more than basic acquaintances with Ms. Fey, but her strength and kindness made her respectable. But why in the world had she summoned him here today? His only guess was it had to do with his… good friend’s… situation.
Although, he’d always seen Phoenix Wright as more than that, hadn’t he.
If he had stuck around for a little longer. If he hadn’t let his cowardness and shame take hold of him and stayed in America… If he had just let Wright know that he’d be there for him. If he had just said everything he wanted to say in that hospital months back... Maybe the person he cared about most wouldn’t be smiling through tears right now. And it was all his fault.
At the dirt-packed train station, the two finally met up.
They strolled around the city for multiple short moments. They discussed how they're worried about Phoenix. Their thoughts on his newly adopted daughter. The newest Global Studios produced episodes. Even a bit of teasing from the shorter of the two about lingering crushes.
This conversation died down when they finally had made their way back to the channeling center. Here, Maya’s smile falls, and she says she’s ready to talk about what she’d really brought him here for.
"Mr. Edge- M-Miles... Look I... know you're worried. I am too! A- a lot. Nick means a lot to me and if I can't help him... if you can't help him...! Then you must be just as, if not more, worried than me... and I thought... just maybe..."
"Maybe...?"
"Maybe I could help you instead. You don't have anyone to talk to and you're always frustrated so I figured... would you wanna channel your father?"
"Ms. Fey-"
"I told you-"
"To call you Maya, yes. Maya, you must be crazy to think-"
"Don't say channeling isn't real! You've seen Daliah! And Mia! Don't deny it."
“What would this even help anyone with?”
“You! Miles you need someone to talk too-”
“Talking with my father isn’t going to help Wright.”
“But you know Phoenix wouldn’t want to see you destroying yourself for him!”
“Well I didn’t want to see Phoenix destroying himself for no one , but here we are!”
“Miles-!”
“Maya-!”
“...alright then, you don’t have to. I just thought you could get advice from him. Stuff no one else could help you with since Nick’s all... yeah.”
Maya looked down and fiddled with her necklace in defeat. Miles relaxed his pose and took her last words into consideration. After shifting on his feet for a moment, he grabbed his left arm and sighed.
"...fine then. What... what would I have to do?"
"Nothing. Just say the word and we can walk in. It would take me a minute to set up but after that you'd just sit down and prepare yourself."
"And this isn't a problem."
"Not at all."
"...then... yes. Yes, let's... let's do it."
It doesn't take long for her to set up the room. There's no need to follow protocol when it's just the two of them. She tells Miles to sit, then follows suit on the pillow adjacent.
She crosses her legs, points her fingers, closes her eyes, hears a deep inhale across from her and... she's gone.
Gone to where there’s nothing to blame herself for. Where her sister isn’t dead, Phoenix isn’t ignoring her, and Pearl is naive again…
She’s gone while Miles stays conscious, while he is grounded by the reality in front of him that lets relief relax his shoulders for the first time in 18 years.
----
The first thing Maya notices when she wakes up are the dark lines streaked down Miles's face, framed around a weak and tired, but relieved, smile.
Maya pulled Edgeworth into a hug, and it didn’t take the two very long after that to become good friends.