After the happy discovery that his mentor was, in fact, alive, Raymond continued to visit the older man, daily, much to the displeasure of nurse Ded and Dr. Uption. However the threat of getting sued quickly ended any arguments the two might have had. It's been a week since then and Shields was now making his way to room 215 with a takeout bag in one hand and a small cardboard box in another. He entered the room to find Gregory in bed, as usual, drinking a cup of hot tea.
The older man smiled kindly before putting his tea on the nightstand and greeting him. In the past week, the curly haired man has been catching up the older defense attorney on what he missed. Mostly what Miles had been doing and the resolution of the IS-7.
"You know Ray, " said Gregory. " you only spoke about Miles the past week, and while I do appreciate it. I would love to know what you'd been doing all these years."
"Ah well...Mostly I took care of the law firm and took cases. Most of my clients have been guilty and I know that but I wanted to help them receive a less harsh verdict. Everyone deserves an attorney, even criminals."
"That's great! I'm happy to hear you grew up to be such an amazing lawyer."
The younger attorney dragged his hat over his eyes slightly embarrassed and emotional but very happy to receive such high praise. "Thank you sir."
Gregory smiled again before noticing the cardboard box and takeout bag. "Ah, well what do you have in there?"
"Oh well, you always complain about the hospital food tasting like sandpaper, so I bought you some chicken soup and fresh blueberries since I know they're your favourites."
"Thank you Ray." said the older man as he took the soup and started eating it. "And what about that box?"
Shields popped a blueberry in his mouth before answering. "Well, you told me how you wished you could have seen the trials Miles was part of so I went out and got a few tapes with his trials for us to watch. I have the DL-6, State v. Engarde and even his debut trial. Although fair warning, his debut trial was anything but pretty."
"That is fine, put them on I want to see."
The curly haired man chuckled as he pulled out State v. Fawles. "Alright, let's see." He goes to the small cubical tv and puts it on. The tv goes fuzzy before showing a familiar courtroom. The Judge is in his usual place, Miles was at the prosecution bench, wearing a suit that bears a strong resemblance to Manfred von Karma's. It has a red coat with black cuffs on the sleeves, and gold decals on the lapels, with a blue and gold waistcoat. On the defense was a woman that reminded Gregory of Misty, she wears a black skirt-suit, a tan scarf, and dons a purple magatama around her neck.
"That's Mia Fey, a defense attorney and Ms. Fey's oldest daughter." said Raymond. The older man hummed in response and watched as his son gave the opening statement.
...
Ray wasn't joking when he said this trial wasn't a pretty one. Thought Gregory when he saw Terry Fawles commit suicide on stand. Throughout the trial, his son was ruthless and used quite questionable tactics in the trial. The similarities with von Karma made him hate the old prosecutor for what he did to his son. While Miles seemed to be winning for most of the trial, near the end Ms. Fey turned everything around. He watched as his son screamed at the judge to call a recess and bring forth a medic, as Fawles spit blood on the witness stand. As the defendant gave his dying breath, he saw his son's face harden. To anyone else it seemed uncaring, however he knew his son better. He was just as shaken by this as Ms. Fey.
To have a suicide on your first trial...he could barely grasp what happened as a seasoned attorney, but to be so young and experience that on your first trial...He couldn't even begin to imagine how Miles felt. Though there was one thing he knew for sure...
"That woman...Hawthorne. She's the one responsible for all of this." said Gregory.
"Yep." said Raymond. "And the kid hates her with a passion."
"I can see why..."
"That and she also tried to kill his boyfriend, like one year later after this trial."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I know that's what I said when I found out. Don't know the exact details but apparently they were together and Dahlia murdered her ex and then framed her boyfriend for it. He got put on stand, pulled a Terry Fawles on everyone by eating a necklace and then lived to tell the tale. This also helped prove that Dahlia was the killer."
"Sweet Jesus..."
"If it makes you feel better, he would also go the same length for Miles too..." The curly haired man shrugged.
Gregory let out the long suffering sigh of a fed up parent. "Let's just watch the next tape."
"Well the next one is your case and Hammond's, but the good news is that you can finally meet the man your son fell in love with. You want something before we watch it?"
"Some more tea would be nice..." New cup of tea in hand, Edgeworth senior watched as his son got put on trial for the murder of Hammond. He looked at the defense to see a familiar head of spiky hair. "Is that...Phoenix Wright?"
"On the defense's side? Yeah, he was the Miles' lawyer and now is his boyfriend...or fiancé if things went well in Germany. Do you know him?"
"He was defended by Miles in a class trial and became friends with him and another kid, forgot his name. I'm glad they remained friends after all these years."
"I think his name was Harry? Larry? I don't know...Either way good for him, these 2 saved his ass in the trial." said Raymond.
...
The first part of the trial was brutal. Von Karma was just as brutal as he remembered him. In the first few minutes he assumed control over the judge and the courtroom and presented evidence that was clearly incriminating his boy. Although it seems that bringing Ms. Lotta Hart to the stand was a big mistake. While it took a lot of prodding (he'll have to thank miss Maya for risking prison time for his boy's sake), it eventually revealed that Ms. Hart could not identify the shooter as well as the fact that the murderer held the weapon in his left hand, whereas the same gun had fingerprints from Miles' right hand. Court was adjourned and Gregory took great pleasure in seeing von Karma's annoyed face.
The second part of the trial was interesting, the old boat keeper (who Ray told him was actually Yanni Yogi) was to testify against Miles, despite the fact that he could not remember his name or his identity from the past. He claimed he saw Miles despite the fact that it was very foggy. He almost had a heart attack when Miles got declared guilty, but it seems his third childhood friend, Larry Butz, managed to buy him time with his weird testimony. This made Phoenix bring forth the theory that the boat shop caretaker was the real murderer. Unfortunately he had fled the courthouse so the court was adjourned yet again.
Third part of the trial surprised the veteran defense attorney the most. Wright declared that the caretaker was Yanni Yogi, however it seemed impossible to prove because the ex-bailiff burned his fingerprints off to hide his identity. When Ray said that Phoenix cross-examined a parrot, he thought he meant it as a joke. But nope. It was here, on tape.
"I can't believe it." said Gregory clearly surprised and with a hint of amusement in his voice. "When you said he cross-examined a parrot I thought you mean a particularly talkative witness, not an actual bird."
But what was even more ludicrous was that it actually worked. The bird said the number to a safe which allowed Phoenix to connect the caretaker to Yanni Yogi. Yogi went to the witness stand and admited to killing Hammond for revenge, saying that he had achieved everything that he wanted to achieve before being taken away. Miles is given the "not guilty" verdict but he objects and admits, wrongly, to killing his father.
"Oh Miles..."
"It's fine, Wright saves his ass again." said the curly haired man as he popped another blueberry in his mouth. "And watching von Karma hit his head on the wall repeatedly is pretty enjoyable."
The older man opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask something before deciding against it. Miles' testimony was cut and dry, perfectly put as expected of a prosecutor. After a bit of back and forth with Miles and von Karma, Phoenix was able to come up with the theory that the bullet fired by the pistol went through the elevator and hit the real killer. While von Karma objected to the statement, Wright started discussing with his co-counsel. Whatever they discussed made him realize something because his shocked face was clearly seen on the camera before he accused the prosecutor of murder. Even Miles was shocked to hear this.
"Bah." was the only answer von Karma gave to the accusation. He didn't even object, as he claimed that all the things the defense said was baseless conjecture. Wright then explained how he took a vacation to heal his wound from the DL-6.
"-Fascinating! I would have needed surgery, no? Where did I go under the knife at Mr. Wright? Bring the doctor that operated on me! Have him testify!" taunted the man. Miles then explained to Phoenix how von Karma probably did not undergo surgery because that would leave a witness. His poor boy's face looked hopeless as he clutched his arm, a habit he picked up from his father, however a fire lit under his eyes as Phoenix brought forth the idea that the bullet was still in the prosecutor's shoulder.
Using a metal detector, Phoenix proved the existence of the bullet in his shoulder. Von Karma tried to deny it and said it was from a different incident, but when Phoenix brought forth his own bullet and suggested they compare the ballistic markings, von Karma finally broke. He punched the table as he let out an enraged scream.
"I've heard that scream before..." said Miles, sounding heartbroken and relieved at the same time. "It's that scream I heard in the elevator...Fifteen years ago." His son frowned and pointed at the elder prosecutor. "Von Karma! It was you who screamed!"
Von Karma's breakdown was horrific. The prosecutor bangged his head on the wall repeatedly as he cursed Gregory and Miles' names. He admitted to his guilt as he started banging his head faster and faster. Gregory is pretty sure that von Karma's scream of "I'll bury you with my bare hands! Death! Death!" is going to haunt his dreams for a long time.
The two men stood in awkward silence before Gregory cleared his throat. "I'm guessing he was found guilty."
"Of course, the chief prosecutor herself handled the case and got him the death penalty."
"Good. How did- How did Miles take it?"
"I think he took it well, all things considered. He used this opportunity to learn from his mistakes and strive for the truth, rather than the perfect record. Luckily the last tape is a lot less emotionally charging and it gives a pretty good idea of Miles' thinking."
"Oh? Well that does sound exciting."
Shields got up as he put on the final tape, State v. Engarde.
...
The tape showed the courtroom with only the judge and defense being present. Phoenix stood at the defense bench only in his white shirt while next to him was a woman with a strong resemblance to Mia Fey. She was wearing Phoenix's missing blue suit jacket. Gregory quickly pieced together that she must be channeled by someone. The real question was why?
His son made quite a dramatic entrance as he told the court that the prosecutor in charge of the case, Franziska von Karma, has been shot in the shoulder and that he will be taking over the case. His son seemed changed throughout the trial. He seemed more...carefree, happier even. His statements were perfect, but he seemed to listen to the defense's arguments this time around. Even going as far as to stop the judge from giving the guilty verdict in order to allow for the truth to come out. While the first part of the trial was vicious, it showed Gregory that his son discarded the von Karma way and committed to finding the truth. It made him very happy and proud.
The second part of the trial consisted in Wright cross-examining an assassin. Through the cross-examination it was revealed that the assassin was holding miss Maya hostage and using her to blackmail Wright into getting the "not guilty" verdict. The situation seemed hopeless before Franziska von Karma burst into the courtroom wearing a dark green coat, bandaged arm in a sling, claiming to have crucial evidence. Miles and miss von Karma tried their best to reveal the truth using the new found evidence, but the judge would not accept the items, as they did not answer the question of who de Killer's client actually was. By some miracle, Wright was able to convince the assassin to confess who his client was, after revealing that Matt Engarde betrayed the contract terms. It was beautiful, watching these 3 children work together to uncover the truth. And he could not have been prouder to have such a wonderful son. A tear slipped out of Gregory's eye as the trial finished.
"A-are you ok sir?" asked a slightly panicked Raymond.
"Y-yes yes, I'm alright Ray. Just...very happy for my son." said the older defense attorney as he wiped his tears.