The Ghost of Turnabout Future
December 24, 11:07 pm
Gourd Lake
Standing on the docks of the boat rental place, was a woman as mysterious and dark as a poisoned thorn, but as beautiful as a blooming red rose. He had known of her since his first trial, but it surprised him to see her here of all places. He assumed she was the final ghost, as her pink attire almost glowed upon the ill-lit lake. Shocked, he blinked only to find her sitting in the rowboat in Hammond's place.
She stared at Edgeworth, "Take the oars and let me be your guide for a trip down the river Styx."
"You're...?" Edgeworth said.
The woman smiled a facade while saying, "Dahlia Hawthorne, the ghost of turnabout future. You've been a naughty boy Mr. Edgeworth, but I must thank you for freeing me that one time in court. It's a shame that Mia Fey wasn't as stupid as you. She got your little friend, Phoenix Wright declared innocent...and right when I almost had him. Such a shame...it would have been two birds with one stone..."
"Y-you—" Edgeworth stuttered.
"Close your eyes, Mr. Prosecutor, we have things to do after all," Dahlia said.
Edgeworth closed his eyes, and found himself sitting in the stands of the courtroom. Dahlia was next to him with her umbrella, giving him a purposeful look as she said nothing. The crowd around him wouldn't stop chattering and so he wondered what was going on until he saw what lay below him. There was a trial going on, of which he was the defendant of. Manfred von Karma stood at the prosecutor's bench, but not a sole was in his defense.
"Seeing as there is no defense for Mr. Edgeworth, the court will now make a ruling on this case," said the judge.
The crowd buzzed with excitement, and Edgeworth looked at Dahlia who said nothing. He tensed as he saw the evil smile of his adoptive father, as if he didn't care that Edgeworth was being convicted for some sort of crime. In fact, he seemed happy. The fact he was like that made Edgeworth begin to rise from his seat as the judge banged his gavel.
"On the subject of the murder of Robert Hammond, this court finds the defendant Miles Edgeworth guilty! Bailiff, escort the defendant to jail!" the judge said, before slamming his gavel down.
Edgeworth stood up and stared back in shock at Dahlia who sat there without a care.
"Why?" He screamed.
"It's your fault," she said, "not a single defense attorney would take your case, because of how you acted to them. The one who would take your case you pushed away because of your pride. He even offered himself twice, having done an investigation to help you. You should be ashamed of yourself, not that it matters to me. All you are is an idiot. Anyways, I promised I would take you on a trip down the river Styx, but we aren't there quite yet. Come, it's time for you to see just how bad you've messed up. I think we will start with Mr. Wright."
She shifted to another seat and Edgeworth followed her. The moment he looked back at the courtroom he found himself in the middle of another trial. Phoenix Wright stood at the defense's bench, and Franziska with a bloodied shoulder stood in the prosecutor's spot. The judge declared the strange man in the defendant's seat not guilty and the entire courtroom grimaced for different reasons. Franziska was obviously mad to lose to Wright, yet who at the same time looked like he would be torn in two.
Dahlia and Edgeworth followed the two into the defense lobby where they got snippets of a conversation.
"As promised, Wright, Maya will be set free because of the acquittal," said the man in the red, "Shelly de Killer is a man of his word after all."
Wright glared at the man, "I hate you so much."
"That's your problem for being a defense lawyer. Not all of your clients are going to be guilty like you wish for," he said.
Wright shook his head, "Then this case will be my last. I can't be a lawyer if it means I let crime committers go free."
"Ah," said the man, "but you let me free. You're no better than any other dirty man, even Shelly de Killer. Accept the fact that you're just as bad as people like that prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and get on with your life. You did after all, let me go free for the sake of your precious Maya."
Wright froze and then said, "You're wrong! I'll never set foot in this courtroom again! I'd much rather be an honorable man than a successful one! Edgeworth at least taught me that before he became as corrupted as you!"
With that, he ran from the courtroom and Edgeworth gave another puzzled looked to Dahlia.
"He was a stupid man who believed in love and miracles. You and I destroyed that for him in many ways, you know? Perhaps it's for the better, because with all of the backstabbing that exists there is no time for such irrelevancies. All they are is obstacles in the way to a greater path," Dahlia said and then looked at a few bailiffs near the door, "It seems we are almost at where we need to be."
Dahlia walked on, with her umbrella tucked behind her. Edgeworth followed and they soon found themselves in a prison yard. He saw himself, hair unkempt and with a brutal stubble of an almost beard. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked as if he were almost in a drunken state. He was all by himself, crouching on a side of the yard, similar to another woman with blonde hair and glasses who was doing the same thing across the yard.
A big grey bus arrived, and a crowd greeted it, but his future self did not get up. He just sat there, as if he were the living dead, against the white concrete wall. New inmates already dressed in their prison scrubs marched in unbothered into the wreck yard. One of the gave Edgeworth's future self a harsh glare and marched over.
"Who are you!" Boomed the inmate.
Edgeworth didn't look up but said without a shred of morale, "Miles Edgeworth, a shamed man."
"I knew it!" Screamed the inmate, "it's you, you little punk! I heard you got transferred into this prison! Well you know what! I'm innocent and because of you I'm on death row! I've been through hell and back so it ain't gonna matter much when I do this!"
The inmate started beating future Edgeworth, who didn't fight back, until the point he was unconscious. At the same time, a massive fight broke out in the prison yard and so the inmate to the opportunity to strangle Edgeworth. A guard who witnessed the event tried to stop it, by shooting a rubber bullet at the aggressor, but ended up hitting Edgeworth's unconscious body right in the head. Blood spilled out, staining the dirt, and that was all she wrote. Killed right then and there on the spot with no mercy whatsoever.
"This is how you die, Miles Edgeworth. And I represent, what will become of you. You will become like me," Dahlia exclaimed.
Edgeworth wanted to throw up at the site, but Dahlia had other things in mind. She started walking away, to which he followed her quick pace at a run. Within the same instant he landed himself in a graveyard where his supposed to be funeral was. Nobody was there except for Franziska who laid her whip on the top of his casket. She sobbed as she put it there and watched the casket be buried.
"There's no point in continuing without you anyways," she whispered and turned her back.
Edgeworth tried to fight her, but she just kept walking away. He tried to pull the coffin from the ground, but it kept going down with him being the only one there. He pulled and pulled until finally he found himself squirming, trying to release himself from the coffin. However, it wouldn't work, and he felt a suffocating weight on his chest as was pulled back into the real world. In front of him, stood Robert Hammond, the man he would be accused of murdering. Edgeworth had the urge to jump out of the boat and swim away while he still could.
"It's been what, 15 years?" Edgeworth asked, nervous.
Hammond said, "About that, yes. 15 years is a long time to wait...You can't imagine how much I've suffered..."
"You...suffered?" Edgeworth inquired, wondering if this was something else he had to make up for.
However, Hammond didn't respond with an answer, instead saying, "And now...the perfect opportunity presents itself! At last, I shall have my revenge!"
"What?!" Edgeworth exclaimed, not understanding what had led up to this.
Hammond looked at his watch and said, "...Merry Christmas."
And that was when the gunshots rang.