Chapter Text
“Hey Miles, I’ve got a question for you.”
Miles looked up from his eggplant parmesan, smiling at his husband, Phoenix Wright. They were often both busy, Phoenix running the Wright Anything Agency, and Miles’ responsibilities overseeing the prosecutor’s office as the chief prosecutor. Lately, the only times they ever got to see each other were in the mornings before work and when they came home after work. Trucy was often there in the mornings, always picking afternoon and evening classes in her university whenever she could, she hated waking up early. She would smile at her two fathers, scarfing down whatever food her fathers cooked for her and wishing them a good day as they left for work.
Now was one of the rare times when they had a day off, and they had decided go on a spontaneous date. Apollo was visiting from Khura’in and he always took over the Wright Anything Agency to let Phoenix relax, his time running his own law firm had made him a very good leader. Meanwhile in the prosecutor’s office, Franziska demanded that she take over the office for the day while Miles enjoyed himself, though he was pretty sure she just wanted an excuse to boss everyone around. Not that he found that he particularly minded, he’d never complain about spending time with his husband Phoenix…even if the other prosecutors would inevitably tell him to never leave Franziska in charge again once he was back.
They went to a restaurant that they frequented, apparently so often that they befriended the manager, a man named Terry with a thick southern accent and a crush on the bartender Clint. Phoenix liked coming to the restaurant mostly to watch the drama that unfolded in the restaurant, and the Santa Fe chicken that they served. This day was a slow day though, it was a Tuesday afternoon since Miles and Phoenix had watched a play put together by the local community theater, a nice compromise between Phoenix’s love for art films and Miles’ love for the Steel Samurai. Not that either of them minded how slow it was, Phoenix was scarfing down his Santa Fe Chicken as soon as a clumsy waiter named Aaron served them their food.
It was surreal to think, that Phoenix Wright…was his husband. Miles remembered a time when they despised each other, when they were younger. Miles’ years as the demon prosecutor, Phoenix’s disbarment, Miles becoming the chief prosecutor, Phoenix getting his badge back and establishing the Wright Anything Agency, so many things that had happened all throughout their years together that Miles was sure he could write an entire novel about it. And through the years, their relationship progressed, from rivalry to friendship to something more, and honestly…Miles wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d go through it all over again if it meant he could wake up enveloped in Phoenix’s arms in the morning.
Yes, the man who stared at him with curious onyx eyes was his husband, and dear lord did he love that.
“Depends.” Miles’ lips quirked up in a teasing smirk. “Is it a stupid question, Phoenix?”
“Ugh!” Phoenix groaned. “You’re unbearable, Miles.”
“And yet you married me?” Miles countered.
“Yeah, I did.” Phoenix said with a snicker. He then smiled, loving. “And it was the best damn decision of my life.”
Miles’ smirk turned smug. “And allowing you to marry me was mine, too.”
“Oh please, you were jumping for joy when I proposed.”
“And were you not also jumping for joy when I said yes?”
Phoenix groaned again. “Can I just ask my question?”
“Hmm…” Miles sipped his sparkling pink lemonade, and he nodded. “Sure, what is it?”
“Will you love every version of me?”
Miles stared at him.
At this point, he was used to these ridiculous hypothetical questions that Phoenix liked to ask. “Would you love me as a worm?” this and “Okay, but what if I turned into a mango and the only way to turn me back was to eat me? Would you eat me?” that, Miles had no idea where he even got these questions. He’d spring these random questions on him, no matter what time of the day it was, sometimes he even sent him a text while they were working.
He wouldn’t lie, the questions were fun to entertain…but he’d never tell Phoenix that, it’d just encourage him more than he already was.
“Every…version of you?” Miles repeated, confused.
“Yeah!” Phoenix added as Miles continued to stare at him with a confused expression. “Okay so, you know about the multiverse, right? And how there are lots of alternate universes from ours?” He continued when his husband nodded. “Well, if there are infinite alternate universes, there are infinite alternate mes!”
Miles raised a brow. “…Where are you going with this, Phoenix?”
“Well…will you love the other Phoenixes? Like, think of all the different mes! I could’ve not become a lawyer and became an artist, or maybe I became a baker, or a prosecutor, and all that stuff. But they’re still me, you know? Just thinking if you’d love all mes.” Phoenix said.
“Hmm…” Miles hummed in thought, that was actually a thought provoking question. “I’d have to think about it.”
Phoenix glared at him. “You do?! You jerk!”
“Jerk?” Miles gave him a questioning look. “And you’d love every version of me?”
“Yes! Of course! Miles, I goddamn love you, no matter who you are!” Phoenix pouted. “Thought you felt the same, guess not.”
Miles chuckled. “One Phoenix Wright is quite enough for me.”
“You are a jerk!”
Miles burst out laughing, and though Phoenix glared at first, he too started laughing.
The two continued chatting and eating, Miles even ordering brownie sundae, rolling his eyes when Phoenix had grinned and teased him for being a sweet tooth. They never ran out of things to talk about, even after they had long since paid for their meal and stayed for a few minutes, and when they were in the car with Miles driving them home. Phoenix was excited to give Trucy a slice of cheesecake they had bought for her, that girl was as much of a sweet tooth as Miles.
And as Phoenix laughed at some stupid joke he made, his grin sure to melt the coldest hearts, it was this, Miles realized, this was the reason why he married Phoenix Wright.
━━━━ ❰ ･ ❉ ･ ❱ ━━━━
Miles hummed to himself as he sipped his tea, oolong with lemon.
It was a quiet, uneventful morning for the prosecutor’s office, hardly any high profile cases for Miles to take up. Honestly, he was relieved, though the convoluted cases that landed on his lap were challenging, they were also goddamn tedious, especially if anyone from the Wright Anything Agency were involved. Aside from Klavier and Blackquill coming in to inquire about something or another, and Ema giving him an autopsy report for an important case, nothing of note really had happened today. Franziska hadn’t even barged into his office to conduct a conversation with him, off doing an investigation for a case. It was peaceful, allowing Miles to just sit at his desk to read books and sip tea. A perfect lazy, languid morning.
Having made himself a cup of tea, Miles smiled as he read a book that had been on his to read list for the longest time. After finishing five chapters, he set it aside and decided to start working on emails and paperwork. He always found those relaxing, even if Phoenix called him insane for it. He worked through his emails, ranging from case updates to public inquires to even legal updates from Franziska, who for some reason sent them to his work email. After having worked on all of the urgent emails, he then moved on to his private email, where the Wright Anything Agency sent their personal inquiries to him. Mostly to ask advice, though Trucy liked to email Miles about gossip.
Just as he was about to open an email from Apollo asking advice about a case his protégés were struggling with in Khura’in, he noticed an…odd email from Trucy.
[email protected]
Subject: (no subject)
https://www.heartsrecollectionfinder.com
Miles raised a brow at that, especially as he saw the next frantic email from Trucy, which was in all caps.
[email protected]
Subject: WHOOPS DON’T PRESS
I DIDN’T MEAN TO SEND IT TO YOU FUCK FUCK FUCK
PAPA DONT GO TO THAT WEBSITE ITS CURSED!!!!!! SUPER DUPER CURSED!!! YOURE GOING TO DIE IF YOU PRESS IT!!!!!!!
…What?
Miles should’ve just ignored the email, but he found himself…curious, morbidly curious even. A cursed webpage sounded like something straight out of a movie, he would’ve thought she’d outgrown believing in magic. Was this some sort of prank? He knew that she and Athena liked to prank people, especially Phoenix and Apollo, but this was the strangest prank he’d ever seen if it were one. And though he would’ve ignored the email, there was an almost…cosmic pull to the website, as though the universe herself was telling him to follow the link, like it were destiny. Before Miles knew it, he had copy pasted the link into his Google Chrome browser.
He was soon taken to what he could only guess was a browser game, and dear lord did it look obnoxious. The title screen looked like something straight out of those dating sims that Trucy used to like as a teenager, obnoxiously pastel pink and blue, and with too many goddamn hearts to be reasonable. The music that played was equally obnoxious, way too upbeat and energetic than Miles would’ve liked. It was early in the morning, way too goddamn early for this eyesore and earsore. The title screen was the textbook definition of the “Graphic design is my passion” memes that Trucy liked to send in the family group chat, which usually left Phoenix groaning at the sight of them.
Though what caught Miles’ eye was the anime character that was winking at him, outstretching his hand out to the viewer with a lovestruck expression on his face. But weirdly enough, and Miles didn’t know if he was just going insane, but…the anime character looked like Phoenix. Miles blinked, wiped down his glasses with his microfiber cloth, even rubbed his eyes, but the character stayed the same. Same black obsidian eyes, same spiky hair, same goofy grin. It was eerie, just how much this anime character looked like his husband. Was it just a coincidence? It probably was, no way was this character meant to look like his husband.
With his curiosity piqued, he read the little blurb on the title screen, which was written in a bubbly round and dark blue-green font.
╔══════════════════════════╗
Have you ever wished to
relive your relationship all
over again?
Well, in this never before
seen game…
…You can!
—
Start Game
Settings
╚══════════════════════════╝
He probably shouldn’t be playing games on the job, especially since he’d scolded Klavier for texting Apollo or Blackquill for reading light novels whenever he caught them, but he was weirdly…drawn to this game. This game…it was fascinating. It promised to let Miles relive his entire relationship with Phoenix, a relationship that had spanned over two decades at this point. Years of complicated feelings, unfortunate events, hatred and animosity between the two. But also the quiet moments where they made up, how they stayed by each other’s side no matter what, the love and adoration they felt for each other as they slowly fell in love. How could a browser game do that? How could it capture the chaos that was their relationship?
But the anime character looked like Phoenix…
Geez, this was eerie as hell.
Miles looked all around him, like he were doing something forbidden. He wasn’t sure why he felt that way, it was just a video game.
He looked back at his laptop screen, the bold “Start Game” staring back at him.
It couldn’t hurt, right? He could just close the browser if the game proved to be uninteresting.
Miles hovered his mouse cursor—which was, as expected, shaped as a heart—over the button before he decided fuck it and pressed start game.
Immediately, with a sound effect of ping! that played as he clicked the start game option, he was taken into another screen. A difficulty screen, Miles soon realized. It was a bright blue-green dialogue box with the same bubbly round font against a pastel pink and blue hearts background, with the obnoxious upbeat music continuing to play.
╔══════════════════════════╗
Select your Difficulty
Easy
Normal
Hard
╚══════════════════════════╝
Miles scoffed at that. Was this game insulting him? He wasn’t what the kids called a “noob” when it came to video games, even though it had taken him a year to defeat the ender dragon in Minecraft in their family Minecraft server. Miles was an intelligent man, and he knew Phoenix like the back of his hand, so this would be easy for him. And so, he pressed the hard difficulty, another ping! sound effect playing as he clicked on the button. The laptop screen faded to black, the irritating upbeat music transitioning into silence. Miles wasn’t sure what he expected honestly, staring at his laptop screen as he waited for something to happen.
Nothing.
He groaned, why did he think anything would happen? Magic wasn’t real, curses weren’t real, though he couldn’t help but wonder what Trucy had meant when she said it was “cursed”, especially with the urgency of her emails. It was probably just some assignment to make a website from one of her computer science major friends. Or maybe it really was a prank, as bizarre of a prank it was, or maybe some weird internet horror thing that she found online. Miles would have to teach her not to click on random links on the internet-
And then he heard a voice, a smooth deep voice that shook him to his core.
You have chosen your difficulty.
He jumped at that, looking all around him, flabbergasted. Where the hell did that voice come from?
It was a voice unlike Miles had never heard before, neither masculine nor feminine, neither high pitched nor low pitched, neither happy nor sad, existing in a limbo that Miles thought wasn’t possible. It had an otherworldly timbre that could be only attributed to something out of this universe. A divine deity, or a malevolent demon—Miles wasn’t sure which one—that shaped itself, molded itself, into a concept that was understandable to the human mind. And for some reason, something about this voice terrified Miles to his core, as though he shouldn’t be hearing it talk to him, as though it were giving him cursed knowledge that no mortal was ever meant to hear.
Love and life, all intertwined…and this is a reminder, a recollection, of all the things you love about your husband…
Flashes of his and Phoenix’s relationships flashed before Miles’ very eyes, as though he were watching a PowerPoint slideshow of their every interactions together flashing at lightning speed. Phoenix smiling, Phoenix frowning, Phoenix laughing, Phoenix crying, all the ways that Miles had seen his husband in his life. It was overwhelming, overstimulating, he couldn’t handle it. The scenes that played included the impactful and the calm and the hatred and the adoration, all crashing into Miles in a chaotic storm of emotions that he couldn’t handle all at once. He was drowning, drowning in hundreds of thousands of hours in their relationship all playing in his head at once. But the voice still boomed in Miles’ head, another sound in the chaos of sounds that filled his mind.
…You have until the end of the year to win Phoenix Wright’s heart, to earn 100 Heart Points…
The end of the year?
Heart points?
What?
What was going on?
Miles was…he was already married to Phoenix. Why would he need to win the heart of the man who was already in love with him?
There was a deep sense of panic in Miles that he couldn’t explain. The same cosmic fear of the sea and space, the terror of something human minds couldn’t ever comprehend. There was a cacophonous ringing in his ears that made his head hurt, that left him in a fight or flight response that he couldn’t ever escape from.
He didn’t understand what was going on, he didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand what the voice wanted.
…Or your soul will fade from existence…
Something was wrong, something was deeply, deeply wrong.
Miles shouldn’t have ever pressed on the link that Trucy had sent, he should’ve never pressed play. This was a mistake, the worst mistake he had ever made. Even if Miles didn’t understand it fully, his very soul could sense it, the urgency, the danger, in this situation, in the being whose voice thundered in Miles’ mind. This being…it was powerful, and it-
…Are you ready?
Ready for what?!
Miles’ head was spinning, the whole world was spinning, he felt like he was about to pass out. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, not with the weight of a cosmic entity’s hand on his entire being, feeling like his entire soul was being forcibly ripped out of his body, by a cruel and unforgiving appendage that wanted to…fuck, Miles didn’t even know.
And then, a blue-green screen appeared in front of him. Not on the laptop screen, but literally in front of him, almost like it were a hologram hovering right before his eyes. He could hear the tick of every number that counted down on the bright screen in front of him. Miles had no idea what to do, oh god what was he supposed to do?
╔══════════════════════════╗
The game will begin in…
3…
2…
1…
Go!
╚══════════════════════════╝
And with that, he blacked out.
━━━━ ❰ ･ ❉ ･ ❱ ━━━━
When Miles came to, he was in the defendant lobby.
But something about it was…different.
It was the defendant lobby of Los Angeles, that much he was certain about. After all, where else would he be? He knew the defendant lobby like the back of his hand…even if this one looked different from the one he was used to. The sofa was a faded orange, the walls now a faded off white, the painting’s frame a simple wooden one unlike the ornately carved one that Miles had gotten to know. In fact, everything was simpler, less grand and ornate, the furniture along with the doors and the windows. The defendant lobby was bare too, just the sofa, a painting, and a single potted plant, the coffee maker and coffee table and the other potted plants now gone.
It was odd, why did the defendant lobby look like this? And why did it seem so…familiar? Like Miles had seen it before, like he’d been here before.
And then, he realized.
This defendant lobby…it looked exactly like it did 13 years ago.
What was going on?
This was weirding the hell out of Miles, as he stared all around him, unsure what the hell was going on. Exactly like it was years ago, it was all giving Miles a sense of déjà vu, like he’d somehow been thrust into the past. It was so familiar, and yet so unfamiliar, like he were in a dream that was trying to recreate his past. But it was a perfect recreation, exactly how Miles had imagined it. His eyes keenly examined the entire room, letting out a sigh of relief upon seeing his most trusted people being here, who were both talking to each other about something. Probably bantering about something minute and miniscule, like they always did.
Maya and Phoenix, they were here.
They could help! They definitely could!
“Phoenix! Maya!” Miles called out to them as he ran up to them. “Dear lord! I was worried! Why are we in the defendant lobby?”
Phoenix and Maya, who were both giving him confused expressions…they looked different. One thing that had changed about Phoenix once they had gotten married was his suits, Miles had every suit he already had and every suit he bought after tailored specifically for him. But the Phoenix who was staring at him with a strange expression was wearing a looser suit, and it wasn’t just the suit too, he was without the waistcoat or the locket of Trucy he kept in his breast pocket. Maya looked different too, she looked shorter and younger, and she didn’t wear the white hood she wore along with her usually longer traditional Khura’inese garb. In fact…both of them looked younger, as confusing as it was.
Was he just imagining things?
“Mr. Wright! It’s…Mr. Edgeworth…” Maya shot Miles a wary glance.
Mr. Edgeworth? Mr. Wright? Why was Maya calling them that? They were close friends, Maya already called them Miles and Nick. What was going on?
“Um…Edgeworth? What are you doing here?” Phoenix questioned, not even hiding his contempt.
“Talking to you, Phoenix!” Miles replied with a laugh. “What else would I be doing?”
Phoenix looked hardly amused, and that just had Miles growing more confused by the second. Why was Phoenix acting so…cold towards him? They were husbands!
“Why are you calling me that? It’s weird, stop it.” Phoenix said, frowning.
Miles raised a brow. “What else am I supposed to call my husband? You know I’m not fond of terms of endearment outside home, Phoenix.”
╔══════════════════════════╗
15 Heart Points Lost
5/100 Heart Points
╚══════════════════════════╝
Miles stared in shock at the dialogue box that suddenly appeared right before his very eyes, before it soon faded. What the hell was that?!
“Wh-WHAT?!” Phoenix screamed, snapping Miles’ out of his brief trance. His frown deepened into a scowl. “Okay, what the hell, Edgeworth? Did you seriously come here to taunt us in the weirdest way possible? Did you lose your social skills with your compassion too?”
Miles stared. This was a prank, it had to be a prank. But why? Why would Phoenix, Trucy, and Maya do all of this for a single prank? They would’ve had to make a website, find a way to make themselves look younger, and decorate a room, or hell, even the actual defendant lobby, into what it looked like 13 years ago. Why would they go through all that effort for a prank that wasn’t even that funny?
But it was the only explanation. What else could be happening?
“Oh! I see what this is!” Miles laughed, faltering a little when Maya and Phoenix frowned at him. They really were committed, huh? “Trucy set up this entire prank, didn’t she? I must say, this is the oddest prank you’ve ever pulled on me.”
“Who?”
Okay, now Miles was worried.
How could Phoenix forget about the light of his life, his own daughter? Was he this committed to the bit, to pretend to not know his daughter?
“Trucy?”
“Uh…who the hell is Trucy?”
“Trucy Wright? Your daughter?” Miles tried, Phoenix grew no less confused. “Phoenix? Why don’t you remember your…no, our daughter? Are you really this committed to pranking me?”
Maya’s eyes widened and she turned to Phoenix, confused. “You have a daughter, Mr. Wright?”
“I don’t!” Phoenix insisted, then glaring at Miles. “He’s just crazy, Maya!”
Miles scoffed, this was starting to piss him off. “Oh, you think I’m crazy? Perhaps you’re the crazy one, Phoenix! Only a crazy man would orchestrate this whole entire prank! Only a crazy man would pretend not to know his own daughter!”
╔══════════════════════════╗
20 Heart Points Lost
-15/100 Heart Points
╚══════════════════════════╝
HE WAS AT NEGATIVE HEART POINTS NOW?!
These heart points…what were they even?!
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re the one barging into the defendant lobby calling me your husband and saying I have a daughter! You’re the crazy one, you fucking psycho!” Phoenix said.
“Yeah! I mean, Mr. Wright would never marry a dick like you! Sis talked about you, you know! About how selfish you were, about how you only care about your perfect record!” Maya added.
“How dare you?!” Miles snarled out. “This is getting rather personal for a prank! Maya, Phoenix, after all I’ve done for you! After all the ways I’ve changed…have you forgotten?! Especially you, Phoenix! After I…after I supported you through your disbarment, this is how you treat me? I…I thought you loved me! This prank has gone too far!”
╔══════════════════════════╗
25 Heart Points Lost
-40/100 Heart Points
╚══════════════════════════╝
Oh god, this situation was getting worse and worse.
Phoenix glared at Miles, his hands shaking with rage. “Are you threatening to disbar me now? I…I knew you changed, but not this much!” His sneer was full of contempt and hatred for him, then scoffing. “I don’t need to hear this from you, I gotta defend myself from a murder charge…that you’re prosecuting.”
Wait.
What did he just say?
“Come again?” Miles squeaked out.
“Um…” Maya stared at Miles. “The murder trial, Mr. Edgeworth. That you’re prosecuting.”
Slowly, the cogs in Miles’ head were turning, as his mind fitted together the jigsaw puzzle of the situation he found himself in. The defendant lobby looking like it did 13 years ago, Maya and Phoenix looking younger, Phoenix not knowing about their marriage and their daughter Trucy. Did that mean that Miles had…traveled 13 years in the past? Before Miles’ murder trial, Phoenix’s disbarment, their marriage, every single way they fell in love with each other? And this trial, that Miles was prosecuting, was it the…
“…Perchance,” Miles started, Maya looking at him curiously and Phoenix raising a brow at him. “…is this murder charge the one of Mia Fey’s murder?”
“Um…you’re prosecuting the case, Mr. Edgeworth. You should know…” Maya murmured to herself, frowning.
Phoenix scowled. “Really, huh? You care so little about the people you prosecute that you forget the victim’s names?!” He let out a deep breath, trying to steady his breath from the obvious rage in him. “I don’t have time for this, Edgeworth. We have a goddamn fucking trial, and I am not wasting my time just to have you mock me.”
No…
NO!
Miles couldn’t let Phoenix leave! He…he couldn’t! Miles needed to…he needed to explain this entire situation to him!
Yes!
Once he explained what happened, then Phoenix would understand and help him! They were husbands, after all!
Miles let out a deep breath, calming himself down. He needed to stay composed. “Phoenix…I need to explain something to you. It’s…it’s urgent.”
“Whatever this explanation is, I don’t wanna hear it.” Phoenix said, then turning to Maya. “C’mon Maya, let’s go.”
Maya nodded.
“Phoenix, you are not leaving!” Miles grabbed Phoenix’s arm before he could walk away. “This is a dire situation! You need to-”
“Get your hands OFF ME!”
Miles let out a yell as Phoenix suddenly punched him, the impact causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head on the floor, and he swore he heard a crack as his head smacked the cold hard linoleum. An instant pain erupted from his head to the rest of his body, his vision went blurry and his mind felt woozy, and he could hear a deafening ringing in his ears that assaulted his every senses. Distantly, he could hear Maya and Phoenix shrieking in horror.
“I-Is he dead, Mr. Wright? Fuck! I know he’s a dick but…but…”
“Sh-Shit! I don’t know, Maya! Maybe he’s just…knocked out?”
“Knocked out? Knocked out?! Mr. Wright, there’s blood pooling around his head! Fucking blood! Shit! Is he going to die? He’s going to die! Please tell me he won’t die, Mr. Wright!”
“Call an ambulance, Maya! Fuck fuck fuck-”
Maya and Phoenix’s panicked voices all blended into one cacophonous ringing as Miles laid on the floor, as he felt the blood trickling down his head and pooling around him. He remembered the books he read, and how people’s lives would flash before their very eyes when they died, which wasn’t really that inaccurate. Every second of his life flashed before his very eyes, his childhood, his adolescence, his years as the demon prosecutor, his relationship with Phoenix. Every memory they spent together, every laugh and every tear, every smile and every frown. It all washed over him, crashing sensations like the waves of an ocean.
This was it.
Miles Edgeworth was going to die.
And by the hands of his husband…13 years in the past.
Life was cruel, wasn’t it?
Even if Miles didn’t want it to, he could feel the ribbons of unconsciousness slowly overtake him, wrapping around his mind and soul. He thought of Trucy, Maya, Larry, Gumshoe, Franziska, the prosecutors he worked with, the Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix. He wondered, briefly, what happened to his body in the present, which was really technically the future now. But with the pain in his head and his blurry blackening vision, it was hard to think.
His eyes fluttered close, it seemed the whole world faded away.
And then…
╔══════════════════════════╗
You Died
2 Lives Left
Restart?
╚══════════════════════════╝
…Restart?
Miles found himself in an endless black void, with a bright blue screen in front of him. He stared at the screen, the screen stared back at him. He wasn’t dead? Miles looked down at his hands, they were there, and he looked back at the screen, glowing in front of him. The same obnoxious upbeat music was playing, and he leaned in to carefully read the text on the screen. It looked like the game over screens that Trucy usually groaned over whenever they died in the video games that they played together.
Wait…
Video game…
…Video game!
This all happened…because of the online video game that Trucy had sent him!
That browser video game, it must’ve sent Miles 13 years to the past, but why? And how? It was just a website, just some dumb video game that his daughter had sent him via email. How could it even do this? How could it send him to the past? Was there a possibility that it…that it really was cursed? Miles Edgeworth was a skeptical man, he really was, but fact was often stranger than fiction. And besides, spirit channeling existed with the Feys and the entirety of the Kingdom of Khura’in, so why would a cursed webpage be any different? But that didn’t answer the question of why it’d send him back to the very first case he worked with Phoenix.
Miles sighed, closing his eyes and trying to recall all that he could about this game.
Have you ever wished to relive your relationship all over again?
Yes…yes!
Eureka!
Now it made sense!
This video game, it’d sent him to the past to relive his relationship with Phoenix. So the Phoenix he was talking to, it was the Phoenix of the past, before their relationship blossomed into something beautiful. They weren’t husbands, fiancés, boyfriends, or even friends. They were just two lawyers on the opposite sides of justice, like they were when they first reunited all those years ago. Shit, that must’ve explained Phoenix’s reaction. Miles was the demon prosecutor, someone with a stained reputation and a hatred for criminals, prosecuting him for the murder charge against his own mentor. Anyone would be pissed at him had they been in Phoenix’s shoes.
And Miles remembered something, about having to win Phoenix’s heart, something about…heart units? Or was it points? Yes, the heart points! And that dialogue box that kept showing up whenever Miles lost these “heart points” with Phoenix. He frowned, racking his brain, trying to remember the exact words of that eerie booming voice in his head.
…You have until the end of the year to win Phoenix Wright’s heart, to earn 100 Heart Points…
Wait…
Wait a fucking minute.
If it was September during Mia’s trial, and he only had until the end of the year, then…Miles only had four months to win Phoenix over.
Oh, fuck him!
How the hell was he supposed to do that? It was hard enough to win someone’s heart normally, between friends who liked each other or acquaintances who had crushes on one another. How the hell would Miles, who had a very tumultuous relationship with Phoenix at the time, win his heart in four months? That was basically impossible! Why was it so unfair?
But then, he remembered. He’d chosen the hard difficulty.
Goddammit.
Damn Miles Edgeworth and his big cocky ego.
He frowned, there was another thing. Equally, or even more important. Something to do with his…his entire being. Miles had felt it, the importance, the gravity, of what the voice was telling him. Something about his soul, and fading, and…
…Or your soul will fade from existence…
Wait? His soul?
Fuck.
His soul, his entire fucking soul could fade from existence…and for what? Not winning over the man he was already married to? His soul fading from existence, it was death, it was basically death. No, it was worse than death. Miles was going to die if he didn’t romance Phoenix in four months. That was absurd, nobody could do that! Love required endless patience and time, trial and error as those in love felt out their boundaries, their relationship. It took years, years, for Miles and Phoenix to get where they were, and now he had to recreate those years of history…in just four months, otherwise he’d die.
Dear lord, this was a herculean feat.
Well, he couldn’t do it if he just stared at the screen.
Miles pressed on the restart button, and the screen shifted, showing more text in front of him.
╔══════════════════════════╗
From the Start
Save File 1: Empty
Save File 2: Empty
Save File 3: Empty
Save File 4: Empty
Save File 5: Empty
Save File 6: Empty
╚══════════════════════════╝
Save files, so Miles had saves he could go back, if he ever extraordinarily fucked up some way or another. Maybe this game wasn’t as unfair as he thought it was.
Miles pressed “From the Start”, and suddenly, he was back in the defendant lobby.
He looked all around him, he was back where he started, where the video game had sent him. Miles could see Phoenix and Maya talking, but now he knew better. As much as he wanted to explain to Phoenix, he knew that wasn’t exactly…wise. Look where it got him when he first tried it, and Miles didn’t want both a repeat of that and to lose another life. But honestly…he had no idea what to do. He knew one thing though, he couldn’t figure it out minutes before the trial for Mia Fey’s murder convened. He needed a day to figure out this mess, maybe find a way to return to his world. There must’ve been some way, was there? For him to return to his world?
And so, Miles found himself walking through the courthouse’s hallways, making his way to the Judge’s chambers. It was odd, how familiar yet different the courthouse looked in the past, like Miles were walking down memory lane. Well, he technically was. He soon made it to the Judge’s chambers, standing before the grand ornately carved wooden door. It was around ten minutes before the trial would start, so Miles was sure the Judge would be getting ready in the Judge’s chambers. As Miles knocked on the door, he heard the Judge’s voice telling him to come in.
“Your Honor.” Miles simply said as he entered the chambers.
“Ah! Mr. Edgeworth! What brings you here? Don’t we have a trial in only a few minutes?” The Judge asked.
“Yes, we do…” Miles said, then adding. “But I would like to request to postpone the trial until tomorrow.”
The Judge looked confused. “What? But you were quite confident you would win, Mr. Edgeworth! What made you change your mind?”
Miles couldn’t exactly say that he was Miles Edgeworth from the future trying to figure out how to get back to his own timeline after clicking a cursed video game, so he said. “…I feel I do not have a good grasp on the situation, and I would like to investigate this crime further.”
“Mr. Edgeworth, we simply cannot postpone a trial!” The Judge said, then sighing. “I’m sure that you want to be as sure as possible about the facts of this trial, but it’s simply too important to postpone.”
“Yes, I am aware. However, this is simply too urgent.” Miles replied.
“I wish I could, Mr. Edgeworth. But Mr. White said…” The Judge trailed off.
Oh yeah, Redd White.
Miles remembered him, a CEO who ran an information business, under the guise of some kind of company that he couldn’t really recall what they did. A corrupt egotistical man, with many people of all kinds doing his bidding…all done through blackmail. Miles felt disgusted with his past self, with the fact that he’d worked with this man so willingly just to win this trial. And though he’d already grown as a person, no longer the ruthless demon prosecutor he was in his youth…now he had to relive it, being the demon prosecutor he no longer was. Now, he had to prosecute Phoenix for the murder of Mia Fey, while working with the very killer. If Miles wasn’t careful, Phoenix could go to prison.
Wait…
If Phoenix was in prison, then not only would it be difficult to romance him, but he’d…he’d despise Miles forever. After all, he would’ve been the man who sent him, an innocent man, to prison.
Shit.
Now he had even more reason to postpone the trial, and let Phoenix win.
It would be easier to tell him to postpone the trial in the future where he was the chief prosecutor, but…Miles wasn’t exactly the chief prosecutor now. Though at this time he was a widely revered prosecutor…he was just a prosecutor, without the authority of being the chief prosecutor. That title belonged to Lana Skye, but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t postpone the trial either.
He just needed a way to convince the Judge, hm…
…Miles hadn’t done it in a while, and dear lord was he aware of how unethical and unprofessional it was, but perhaps he could…sternly persuade him? Just this once? It was a dire situation, and it used to work all the time when Miles was the demon prosecutor.
It was worth a shot.
Miles attempted his deathliest glare—not as good as the ones he gave in his youth, but still terrifying—and made his voice sound as stern and demanding as he could. “You will give me a day to investigate this crime further and that is final, understood?”
“Y-Yes, Mr. Edgeworth!” The Judge squeaked out in fear. “Of course! I uh…I will inform the courtroom at once!”
Huh, that actually worked.
The next thing he needed to do now was…actually, he didn’t even know.
Miles was so deep in his thoughts that before he knew it, he was already driving home. He hardly paid any mind to the surroundings that passed him by as he drove, and he put on some jazz music that was drowned out by all of the thoughts in his mind. He was too preoccupied, practically on auto-pilot as he drove back to his house, a route that at this point came as easily to him as breathing. Questions all swirled in his head, all ranging from “How am I going to win Phoenix’s heart in four months?” to “Is that even possible?!”, and he didn’t have an answer to any single one.
What the hell was he going to do?
━━━━ ❰ ･ ❉ ･ ❱ ━━━━
Miles sighed as he sat at his desk, hunched over his laptop as he took a sip of his tea.
The first thing that Miles did as soon as he got home was open his laptop, immediately searching up the URL link of the website Trucy sent him. At least, what he remembered of it, spending the next almost hour slightly tweaking the link as he tried to remember it. But all of the variations Miles tried had all ended up with a 404 error message. So this video game website either didn’t exist in the past—the present for him right now, Miles kept reminding himself—or it deleted itself when he had pressed play. Miles wasn’t really sure which one was worse, and either way, he couldn’t just quit the game like he wanted to.
So he was stuck 13 years in the past, with nobody to help him.
But maybe…someone could help him.
Trucy.
Trucy! Miles had realized with a celebratory “Eureka!” in his mind, he could ask her to help him! Why wouldn’t she? After all, she was the one who sent the link to him, though accidentally. If she knew that this website was cursed, then she’d know what to do, wouldn’t she? Maybe she could undo whatever curse this website did, maybe send him back to his own timeline, safe and sound and surrounded by people he loved and who loved him. Then Miles could forget all about this, and be back in his own universe with his friends and family, and a Phoenix who actually loved him.
Though that sounded too easy…and it was. Miles groaned as he realized that there was a problem with this, because if it was 2016…then Trucy would be six years old.
Fuck.
What was he going to do now? He was basically stuck in this timeline then, and with no idea how the hell he should even romance Phoenix in four goddamn months.
Miles went to sip his tea, and he realized that he’d drank all of it. He must’ve been stressed, though seeing his situation…could anyone really blame him?
He was soon in the kitchen, waiting for the water in the electric kettle to boil so he could pour it into his mug. As he stood alone in the kitchen, the only other living soul Pess sleeping on her dog bed, he realized how…empty his house was. Usually, Miles would walk into the kitchen and he’d see Phoenix cooking them something or Trucy trying some viral recipe that she found on TikTok, and the air would be filled with warm and intimate laughter. But now, the only sounds were that of the electric kettle. He remembered when Trucy was first trying to learn how to make tea, and trying her god awful first attempts. Miles was pretty sure she could see through him whenever he faked liking them.
It was odd, how both familiar and different his house was from the past. It was exactly like how Miles remembered it, whenever he would wonder about how lucky he was that his house wasn’t as empty as it was before. But years ago was the present for him right now, without the Troupe Gramarye posters on the wall, or Trucy’s magic props that she never seemed to keep track of, or Phoenix’s random little trinkets that he had thrifted and refused to throw away, Miles used to call them hoarders for that. Now he’d do anything just to see some dumb cookie jar shaped like Hello Kitty or Trucy’s random magic props that Miles didn’t know how to use.
He had no idea what happened to his body in his timeline, his family must’ve been worried about it.
Wait…
Family!
Trucy wasn’t the only magician in Troupe Gramarye…her biological parents were, too! Thalassa Gramarye and Zak Gramarye were both magicians! Since Thalassa’s fatal magical mishap happened in November, and Zak’s trial with Phoenix had happened years after, they’d both still be with their daughter. He could ask them for help, he realized. They’d know what to do, they could maybe even send him back to his own timeline. After all, they were magicians, and were curses not part of magic? At least, Miles hoped they could, and hoping was the only thing he could really do at the moment.
After he had steeped his tea, he sipped it as he looked through his phonebook, searching for the Gramaryes’ address. Gabe… Gallaugher…Gardner…Gavin…Miles frowned as his eyes searched through every last name. Grady…Graham…Gramarye! He took note of their address, typing it out on his phone. He needed to see these two immediately.
And so, after he finished his tea and locked the doors after him, he was on the road and on his way to the Gramaryes.
He could only hope that they could help him, and dear god was he hoping.