Story of Hope

The man opened his mouth to respond but Edgeworth was moving on.

"Don't even answer that. That's not the best description I could give him, but that's how he was last I saw him. I don't expect everything to be the same now, much less do I expect anyone to recognize him based off the most vague description in the universe."

He faced away again, now embarrassed that he couldn't keep from rambling. He had a whole speech prepared and now he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"I don't live here anymore," he spoke again, and felt a need to explain it all to someone. To let all of this be projected somewhere so he wouldn't have to carry it anymore. "But when I did, no one seemed to correctly remember who he was. He hated it so much that it was...kind of...funny."

He smiled at the thought. Phoenix being annoyed over the darnedest things, a little pout and a furrowed brow and those big, sad eyes.

Edgeworth zoned back in and frowned. He faced the man again, the total stranger who hadn't left or closed the door yet.
"I'm so sorry," he said, "I was just so sure..."

The man shrugged. There was not much to say.

"When his boss passed away, he kept the office. He stayed in the city to defend people. I thought he stayed." A weight pulled his feet to their place and he couldn't lift them.
"I didn't. I went away."

"Most people do," said the man.

"Yes. And I guess he did too. I never thought he would. I must've lost track."
His chest tightened when he thought over it more. Maya was training in the mountains, and Miles up and left. It made sense.
"If only there was something you could keep people in for when you need them, huh?" He said, wryly attempting Phoenix's way of lightening a dull conversation.

The man was kind of smiling.

Miles cleared his throat and couldn't figure out how to correctly leave—maybe Phoenix just moved to a different part of the building. He couldn't have left, could he? "It's very cold."

The man said, "Yeah."

"I took a taxi here, from the airport. I flew in from London to see him."

"Wow," said the man. His brows raised but hid behind his hat. "That's far."

"I guess I traveled a lot farther than I thought I would. I never realized how far I went from here."

"Why did you do that?"

"I needed to find my answers."

"No," the man said, "I meant, why did you come back?"

Edgeworth sucked in a cold breath. "I needed to see him as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"Because I was able to find some—answers, I mean. I wanted to answer a question he asked me."

The man raised his brows again. On his tired face, it did little to change his expression, but he was listening. "Oh?"

"Before I left, he asked me a really important question and I didn't answer it. I later realized that you can't—you just can't do that to someone."
He clenched his fists again, kind of glad now that Phoenix wasn't there to see what a mess he'd become.