Ace Attorney Fanfic.

Prologue: PHOENIX

“She turned the handle and walked into the room, a knife in her hand. It was then I heard a terrible scream .It was a man’s voice, definitely a man’s voice. I recognised it instantly as he shouted his attacker’s name.”

“Hold it!” Phoenix Wright shouted from the bench. The young prosecutor looked at him and smiled a little.

“Yes, Mr. Wright?”

“Can you verify for the court exactly whose name he shouted?” the twenty-eight year old defence attorney asked.

“Sh- Shannon James-Thompson.” The witness, a young brunette in her twenties, stated shakily.

“The victim choked on his own blood whilst dying.” Wright stated, tapping the report in front of him.

“Yes, and?”

“Do you know how many syllables are in that name?”

“Get to the point, Wright.” Klavier Gavin sighed, flicking some of his long blond hair out of his eyes.

“Five. It would be impossible for the victim to shout that name whilst choking!”

Klavier Gavin slammed a fist on the prosecutor’s bench as the witness flinched a little. Phoenix smiled, this case was going good. He would have liked to be fighting against Edgeworth or von Karma but they were both away. Edgeworth had gone to England for a case there and von Karma had returned to her native Germany.

“He shouted out her nickname.” The witness stated, looking tearful before bursting into a rage, “He shouted S-J Thompson!”

“S-J?” Wright asked, looking mildly confused.

“Heh, how many syllables is that, Wright?” Prosecutor Gavin asked, laughing a little.

“Th-That’s not relevant!” Phoenix stammered, as everyone in the courtroom turned to stare at him, waiting for his answer. Prosecutor Gavin had an easy smile on his face and his hands in his pockets, leaning forward expectantly.

“Answer the question, Mr. Wright.” The Judge ordered. Phoenix’s head dipped a little and his shoulders slumped. He could almost feel the cold sweat dripping from his forehead. If he answered this, his case could be over. He didn’t have a single shred of evidence to prove who else could have done it but he knew his client was innocent. He believed in her, the way his mentor - Mia Fey – had believed in him when he was on that witness stand for a murder he did not commit. He swallowed and answered, slowly.

“Three. It would have been possible for the victim to shout that name, but if he did, he did not shout it in an attempt to identify his attacker. It was a cry for help.”

Klavier Gavin stared at him for a matter of two seconds and then flicked a strand of blond hair out of his ocean-blue eyes. “You have evidence, ja?”
Phoenix nodded and consulted the court record once again, looking over his evidence until he found the one thing that had seemed so out of place the moment he’d set eyes on his client. The crime scene photo that showed the victim’s body.

“The victim has a bright pink lipstick smear on his cheek; however, my client only wears red lipstick, which I have here.” He produced the small tube of red lipstick from his evidence and opened it, “Now, I took this from Ms. James-Thompson’s desk drawer and it’s covered in her prints. She had no other lipsticks. However, this lipstick is bright pink…” He produced a second tube, “And I took it from Lucy Spellman’s desk.”

The court started to murmur as the public took in this new evidence. Klavier Gavin’s response was predictable, but Phoenix pressed on, urging the police to test for fingerprints on the tube. With no murder weapon, as of yet, this was all he had. The Judge called a recess and Phoenix went into the lobby to talk with his client.


Shannon was choking back sobs when he approached her but looked up and dried her eyes as soon as he cleared his throat. She looked like she didn’t quite know what to say and he wanted her to stop crying so he could ask her some questions. Strangely enough, an image of himself reaching out to hold this girl and comfort her also played in his mind at the same time. He shook it away.

“Mr. Wright?” Her voice was shaking and quiet.

“Yes?” He was relieved that she had spoken first and at the same time, a little worried. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger along his jaw as though he was thinking.

“I know how she killed him.” Shannon whispered.

“Yeah, he was strangled. Unless you know what killed him, we’re still at a dead end here.”

“It was the tie.” Shannon’s expression changed into one he was all too familiar with, the glaring eyes, the mouth forming a single straight line, the way she held her shoulders. It was like she’d transformed into Edgeworth or Franziska von Karma. Knowing that this was his one hope, he flipped through his case file again and noticed something odd in the photos. The victim wasn’t wearing a tie.

“The victim isn’t wearing a tie.” Phoenix stated flatly. He showed her the photo and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No, wait…” Shannon studied the photo a little harder and pointed to something on the floor behind the victim, “There.”

Phoenix looked to where she pointed at a thin piece of green patterned material and nodded. “It could be a tie, but without it in evidence… I’m sorry.” He met her eyes again. She was innocent, he believed in her. He shouldn’t doubt her now, not after they’d come so close. The recess ended and they were ushered back into the court room.

“If the prosecution and the defence are quite done, I’m quite ready to pass down my verdict… this court finds the defendant, Shannon--”

“Objection!”

“Mr. Wright?” The judge looked startled by his sudden outburst, “Do you have something to add?”

“Yes. I would like to question the witness, Lucy Spellman, once more, Your Honor.”

“Objection!” Klavier Gavin shouted, “Herr Wright is badgering the witness!”

“Prosecutor Gavin, I only want to ask the witness one question!” Phoenix glanced up at the judge. “Your Honor?”

“I’ll allow it, but if this doesn’t have a purpose…”

“I understand.” Phoenix nodded, and then he turned to the witness. “Ma’am, was the victim wearing a tie before the murder?”

“Y-yes, I believe he was. It was green, with a slight diamond pattern.”

“Why isn’t he wearing his tie in this photo then?” Phoenix asked.

Lucy gasped, “S-J must have taken it from him and got rid of it! It’s the only explanation!”

“I don’t think so, because I can see the tie in this photo. It’s right by here.” He pointed to the place Shannon had shown him during the recess and watched as Lucy recoiled as if hit by an invisible fist. “I think, you strangled your boss with his own tie and framed my client because you were jealous of the attention he gave her. You had romantic feelings for him, did you not? You must have been angry when he started calling her his favourite and showering her with all that attention…”

“I… I was jealous. I still am. How dare that woman just waltz into there and take what was mine?! She took my lover, my friends and even my job! I wish I’d killed her instead!” Lucy’s shrieks echoed off the walls as the bailiff escorted her out and the judge pronounced Shannon not guilty.


It had been months since that trial, almost half a year but he still looked back on it. Something about that case still bugged him, tugged in the corner of his mind. He took down the case file from the dusty shelves of Mia’s law books in his office and read through it for what seemed like the thousandth time. He had to have missed something.
He looked down at the list of staff and noticed a name right underneath the killer’s. Nicole Spellman. Lucy’s sister.
He placed the file back on the shelf and walked into his living area, filled with mess and various magic-show props. Sinking onto the sofa he turned on the TV and switched from the magic shows and cartoons that Trucy liked to watch to the news. He’d seen Shannon a handful of times since that case, never on business, but they remained friends. His phone rang just as he was drifting off to sleep on the sofa and he groggily answered it.
“Hello?”

“Hi Daddy! I’m going to sleep over at Polly’s tonight okay?”

“Trucy… you’ve only just finished your show?” His adoptive daughter, Trucy Wright was a stage magician. Her whole family, the Gramaryes, were magicians.

“Yep! Polly came to watch and said I could stay over his.”

“Okay. Say hi to Apollo for me and make sure he takes good car of you.” Trucy giggled on the other end of the phone.

“’Kay! Bye daddy!”

“Goodnight Trucy.” He hung up and looked at the phone in his hand. Maybe he should call someone to come over. He felt lonely without anybody else in the house and with Maya being back in Kurain with Pearl. He typed a quick message to Shannon which read
‘Hi, it’s Phoenix Wright. Do you want to meet up at Gourd Lake?’ and before he could remind himself that it was a bad idea, he hit send.
Shannon’s reply came through almost instantly, only one word. ‘Yes.’
He typed another message ‘See you there in a few minutes’ before heading out of the door.

Once he got to Gourd Lake, he walked around on his own for a little bit, looking out for Shannon. He found her on the edge of the lake, dipping her toes in the water and walked up behind her, crouching low to be near enough the same height as her before he sat down beside her.
“Careful,” he said, “Your feet might get eaten by Gourdy.” Gourdy was the ‘monster’ that supposedly lived in the lake but had turned out to be nothing more than a giant Steel Samurai balloon and a scuba tank.

Shannon laughed a little, “Don’t be so silly, Mr Wright.”

“Please, call me Phoenix.” His voice hitched on his own name, immediately making himself feel like an idiot.

“Okay, Phoenix… I guess that’s what all of your friends call you, huh?”

Phoenix swallowed, “Not really. Most of them call me Nick.”

“Nick? It suits you. You know, if you like your name being shortened.” Her voice sounded unsure of what she was saying.

“What about you? What do your friends call you Ms. James-Thompson?” Phoenix teased.

“My name’s just Shannon James now… I got rid of the Thompson part a few months after the trial.” She paused and took a deep breath as Phoenix made a sound for her to continue talking. “And people usually call me Shan.”

They spent the night together, talking as they walked around the lake. Occasionally, their fingertips would touch and they’d move a little bit apart before looking at each other and smiling.
Shannon liked those moments; she wanted to lock them in her heart and never tell anybody. She liked the way he smiled and they way his eyes seemed to sparkle when he looked at her, of course, she could just be imagining things.
Phoenix still couldn’t get the thoughts of holding her close to him out of his head; it seemed to pop up everytime he was near her. It was crazy. He hadn’t felt this way about anybody in a very long time and at the same time; he didn’t really know what he was feeling. He had to be careful though, last time he’d felt this way was with Dahlia and then Iris, and one of them had tried to kill him and Maya. That was Dahlia. Iris was her sister and a nun at Hakazura Temple, they looked almost exactly alike and he had fallen. Well, until he had to force himself to get over her after her arrest.
Could Shannon be like them? He doubted it but he also wanted to be totally sure.

“I have to go.” Phoenix said as they stood under the moonlight, “I’ve got to do some things for…work.”
Shannon stared at him and sighed. “Okay, goodbye.”
He hugged her and bid her a good night before heading off home. He had to get some sleep and then head down to the precinct to check that she hadn’t been involved with any other cases, including unsolved ones.

His investigation took several months, in which time he continued to see Shannon and started a relationship with her. After it had turned out that the only case she’d been involved in was her own trial, he started to feel more secure with her. He’d lost a lot by just starting this relationship, his phone being one of them. His usual means of contact nestled deep in the heart of Gourd Lake after he’d accidentally dropped it there.

Looking back on it, Phoenix knew that the whirlwind of romance from that time had died down, but his feelings hadn’t. Shannon had called him a week earlier with some very startling news that made his blood freeze but he’d accepted it and moved on.