Back from the Dead

Living Ghosts

"Don't tell me that he accidentally-"

"No, no. Don't worry, nothing like that happened. Although the kid did also believe it for a while." Gregory heart clenched at the thought of his son thinking he killed his own father. Raymond squeezed the older man's shoulder and smiled sympathetically before continuing. "At the time, von Karma was passing by the elevator and the bullet that Miles accidentally fired passed through the elevator doors and shot the prosecutor in the shoulder. Immediately afterward, the power returned to the building and the elevator doors opened. Von Karma, enraged at his perfect record now being sullied, picked up the gun and shot you. He then left the crime scene and made everyone believe Yogi or Miles did it."

"And that's when the channelling came in." 

"Yeah..." said Raymond. "You didn't actually know who shot you at the time, did you?"

Gregory sighed. "No, I did not. The only people in the elevator at the time were me, the bailiff and Miles. However I couldn't let them indict Miles. So I did what I had to do, as a parent."

"Don't worry Mr. Edgeworth, I don't blame you. But back to the story, your case, now known as the DL-6, was kindoff a hot mess. The police convicted the bailiff and Yogi hired Robert Hammond to defend him. However, since the evidence was condemning and Hammond only cared about winning the trial for himself, he asked Yogi to plead temporary insanity due to the oxygen deficiency. Through this, Yogi was ruled not criminally responsible. Then some other mess happened, someone leaked to the press that the channelling was used and the police got humiliated and Ms. Fey called a fraud."

"...I see."

"What happens next, well...I'm sorry Mr. Edgeworth, I tried my best to help the kid, but I was too young and they wouldn't let me..." The young man looked at his mentor apologetically. "That two faced rat of a prosecutor... He adopted the kid, took him in and raised him to be a ruthless prosecutor willing to use methods that were barely legal to maintain his perfect record. They used to call him 'the demon prosecutor'. If you can believe that."

"That- bastard, almost killing me wasn't enough so he had to take it out on my kid too? How could he?!"

"I'm sorry sir...but I'm this is isn't the end, it gets worse..."

"How? How can it get much worse than this?" said the older attorney utterly heartbroken. His poor boy...He only wanted to be a defense attorney. "Curse you von Karma!"

"Do you need a moment?"

Gregory took a few calming breaths before speaking. "No, no...I'm quite alright. You can continue."

Raymond looked at him suspiciously before continuing. "Well, first I need to give you a bit of context. After his acquittal, Yanni Yogi became an outcast of society and grew to hate Hammond and Miles. Years later, von Karma was about to plan his "perfect revenge"." The curly haired man made quotation marks with his finger as he said "perfect revenge". " Von Karma sent Yogi a letter with instructions on killing Hammond and framing Miles for the murder. Yogi sent letters inviting Hammond and Miles to his shack, since he became a boat keeper with a pet parrot. Hammond arrived first, and Yogi fatally shot him and dumped his body into Gourd Lake. Miles arrived later, Yogi pretended to be Hammond and took him on a boat ride to the middle of the lake. The kid was later accused of murdering Hammond the following morning."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down! The kid is fine! I swear!" After the veteran attorney came back from his outburst, Raymond continued the story. "Luckily all of your fears about the kid dying alone were unfounded because he has friends that saved his ass during that trial."

Gregory couldn't stop himself and snorted. "Alright then. I'm guessing one of his friends defended him?"

"Yep! His current boyfriend actually. That crazy kid actually cross-examined a parrot!"

"A parrot?" said the older man clearly amused.

"Yeah! It was wild! And it worked! He won against von Karma!"

"Von Karma was prosecuting? Of course he was..."

"Yeah...But it ended well. Yogi admitted to killing Hammond and Miles was cleared of charges...For that trial."

"What?"

"Remember how I said that the kid thought he killed you?"

"He didn't..."

"He did."

The older attorney put his face in his palms. "Oh, Miles..."

"But hey everything turned out right in the end. Miles got proven innocent and his stubbornness led to the real killer being found. Or well...aggressor I guess. And even better, after that the kid changed. He started striving for the truth and stopped caring about his record. Even though he's a prosecutor he's so much like you right now. He's actually trying to fix the corruption in the prosecutor's office, if you can believe how ambitious he became."

"He is?" a hint of pride in the man's voice.

"Yeah. And it's all thanks to "that man"."

Gregory chuckled confused. "W-what? That man? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Miles so in love with this guy. He always used to say how "that man, changed his view" or how "that man made him see the light". It was actually quite adorable. No wonder they ended up together."

The older man smiled warmly as he thought of his son. Yes he had been on the wrong path at the beginning, but now he was paving his own road as he fought for what he believed in. He couldn't have been prouder. Excitment bubbled under his skin as he thought of seeing his son again. He can't wait.