[RL 41: I'll Be Home for Christmas (Redux); Edgeworth, Phoenix, Maya, Pearl][Backdated]

[samuraiprosecutor]

((OOC: Back-dated to December 24th, 2009 comm time.))



The CSI photos he’d found years ago in case files hadn’t done the place justice.

It was an unsurprising discovery. Evidence photos weren’t meant to capture a location, they were meant to capture an event. Sterile snapshots of a moment in time, the only spirit they typically conveyed was a pervading sense of violation and pain that differed in degrees depending on the crime. There had been no indication of the peace that normally laid over Kurain, or the cold, pristine perfection of its exotic, snow covered buildings.

Only his experiences at Hazakura Temple helped prepare him for this environment...and they obviously hadn’t prepared him very well, as evidenced by the fact that he was standing at the entrance to the village, ankle deep in snow and wearing a wholly inadequate pea coat. Reverence quickly fading in the face of his involuntary shivering, he hunched his shoulders against the wind and moved into the village.

When he reached the center of town, marked by the stone monolith that jutted from the ground, he paused to get his bearings, praying as he did so that none of the village’s hidden occupants were clandestinely watching this strange fool who didn’t even have the sense to dress for the weather. As many of the buildings were similar and he didn’t recall exactly what the Fey manor looked like, surveying the buildings didn’t prove very helpful. In the end, he was forced to make a blind guess. He headed towards the largest of the buildings; knowing the Fey family’s importance to the village, that seemed the likeliest one to be their ancestral home, and if it wasn’t, hopefully someone inside would be able to direct him there.

Something hitched in his chest as he set foot on the front porch, but he didn’t pause before reaching up to rap the large knocker on the door. It was only after he’d done so that the hesitation set in. Standing there before the immense, gleaming wooden doors, he gave another shudder and finally turned away from the entrance to stare out over the landscape, ears perked warily for any sounds of movement behind him.

Comments

[attorneyatlol]

Although was enjoying himself, there had been an air of melancholy hanging over Phoenix's head all night, as his thoughts occasionally wandered to Christmases past--specifically, of course, to Christmases of the past two years. Thankfully, it was easy not to dwell when one had good friends surrounding him. Maya and Pearls were more than distractions, they were like family, and he was more than grateful that he'd gotten the chance to spend the holidays with them.

It was little moments like this, however, when he was alone and wandering the halls, that he'd catch himself wondering what Edgeworth was doing or what he'd think if Phoenix had randomly decided to show up in Paris, and it was thoughts like those that reminded Phoenix that Edgeworth probably wouldn't have a clue why the defense attorney even cared in the first place.

...And it was reminders like that which had Phoenix mentally smacking himself. He really needed to stop thinking about it and start focusing on what he was doing in the here and now, like trying not to freeze while he made his way to the restroom. Brooding wasn't going to help anything; it wouldn't bring back Edgeworth's memories, and it certainly wasn't going to put Phoenix in a better mood, so the best thing to do was put those thoughts in the back of his mind and concentrate on something else. Something like the knock at the door.

Wait. The knock at the door...?

Stopping in his tracks, he backed up and glanced at the main entrance, frowning a little. Was someone really out there in the middle of the night? In this weather?

"Hey, Maya?" he called, glancing over his shoulder. "I think someone's at the door..."

[samuraiprosecutor]

The more time dragged on while he stood under the ineffective cover of the porch, the more Edgeworth’s wariness grew. He wasn’t certain who’d be opening the door, but either way it went he was becoming less and less sure of what he’d say to whoever was on the other side when the large, wooden door slid open.

That was also assuming anyone opened the door—for all he knew, the building could be some temple that was only staffed during the day, a possibility he began to be more convinced of the longer he stood there in the cold. After another glance at the door, he turned back to the street outside, beginning to wonder if he should try another building.

[attorneyatlol]

"Maya? Pearls...?" After a few seconds with no answer, Phoenix turned his attention to the door again. This wasn't his home, but if someone was knocking at Fey Manor at ten o'clock at night, it was probably about something important.

"I guess I'll get it," he said to himself. Tightening the kimono he'd been fitted with on arrival, he prepared to brace himself against the wind outside and carefully slid the door about a foot open, peering out from behind it. The cold air immediately flooded the room, and he tried not to cringe as he asked, "Can I help y--"

The words immediately died in his throat, however. The man on the porch may not have been facing Phoenix, but that head of hair was unmistakable...

[samuraiprosecutor]

As the words just barely managed to cut through the gust of wind that had kicked up around him, Edgeworth turned back toward the door. The familiar voice had told him instantly who he’d find, but he was still unprepared for the sight of Wright (his closest, most trusted friend) framed by the dark doorway and wearing...a kimono, of all things.

Standing there on the snow-covered porch, lit by the light of the moon and the dim lamps that flanked the door, Edgeworth suddenly couldn’t find anything to say.

[attorneyatlol]

It was him.

Swallowing to fight the sudden dryness in his mouth, Phoenix pushed the door a little wider and stood in the entrance way, frowning in confusion. "Edgeworth? What are you...?"

[samuraiprosecutor]

If he hadn’t been trapped by Wright’s wide, blue eyes, Edgeworth might have looked away. Instead, all he could do was stare as he floundered, until he finally grabbed for purchase on the first cohesive thought his mind landed on.

“Apparently we...didn’t end that conversation soon enough.”

[attorneyatlol]

The furrow in Phoenix's brow grew deeper. "Conversation...?"

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth mentally kicked himself. It wasn’t surprising in the least that his friend had no idea what semi-obscure instance he was referring to, particularly when Wright must still be under the impression that Edgeworth himself had no idea the conversation had ever occurred.

With a gentle shake of his head and a hint of a melancholy smirk on his lips, Edgeworth quietly answered, “I’m back, Wright.”

[attorneyatlol]

"'Back'?" The word triggered a knot in Phoenix's stomach; there was only one meaning he could derive from it, but he was well aware that his own wishful thinking could be getting the best of him. It had been for the past two weeks.

Still, he could keep neither his brow from twitching upward nor the hopefulness from his voice when he asked, "You mean you...?"

[samuraiprosecutor]

At the look on Wright’s face, the words died in Edgeworth’s throat, leaving a single nod as the only response left to him.

[attorneyatlol]

It was the only response he needed. A smile tugged at the corner of Phoenix's mouth, but by the time it came to fruition, he had unthinkingly thrown himself at Edgeworth and wrapped the other man in the tightest, most desperate hug possible.

[samuraiprosecutor]

A shocked gasp escaped Edgeworth as Wright’s substantial weight hit him. For several confused moments he was frozen in the man’s grip, his breath knocked out of him and his wide-eyed gaze focused on the door that Wright had launched himself from. His fingers twitched at his sides, as if unsure of what to do with themselves. Both men stood on the porch, locked together in the midst of the biting wind, Edgeworth in his flimsy pea coat and Wright in his even more flimsy kimono.

The moment was almost surreal, but soon enough reality began to impose itself on the situation...the overwhelming reality of Wright, of everything Edgeworth had almost lost, enfolding him with warmth. His fingers clenched and suddenly his hands were moving, his arms lifting to wrap themselves, hesitantly, around Wright. Edgeworth leaned his chin against his friend’s shoulder and held him, his own grip slowly tightening as if he was afraid the man would be taken away again if he didn’t hold on.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix's actions had surprised him just has much as they had surprised Edgeworth, and he immediately felt his face color with embarrassment, a stark contrast to the cold wind surrounding them. He considered pulling away, yet when Edgeworth not only returned but strengthened the embrace, he found himself abandoning that thought and, instead, tightening his hold in response.

Nothing he could have said would have been able to express how grateful he was, even if words weren't failing him. He hoped squeezing the life out of Edgeworth was an adequate alternative.

[samuraiprosecutor]

It was more than adequate. If he’d tried, Edgeworth couldn’t have described how the embrace felt. Since...well, since his childhood he’d never allowed anyone this liberty, this access. It was dizzying, embarrassing, and somehow liberating, just as the mingling of intense warmth and frigid wind was. He held onto it as long as he could, with his throat burning and his friend’s clean scent filling his nostrils.

Eventually he pulled away, slowly, his gaze betraying a hint of reluctance before he awkwardly averted his eyes to the ground.

[attorneyatlol]

The loss of warmth was instant. Phoenix pulled away at the same time, subtly (or so he hoped) wiping his face along the shoulder of his sleeve as he took a step back. He offered Edgeworth an awkward smile, glad the other man was looking away. "Um... Welcome back."

[samuraiprosecutor]

He may not have been looking at Wright directly, but the gesture, subtle though it may have been, was impossible for Edgeworth to miss. He looked up, confirming his suspicions, and the unmistakable evidence of hastily erased tears took him back to another moment, another milestone in their ever evolving relationship.

“It doesn’t suit someone like you to cry useless tears, Wright,” he answered with a soft quirk of his lips, as he held his friend’s gaze without hesitation.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix's response was something between a laugh and a sob, and he inwardly cursed himself and hid his face with his sleeve again, waiting a moment to regain his composure. He knew he'd been taking this whole thing difficultly, but he hadn't quite realized how much it had affected him until now. The thought was terrifyingly sobering, adding to the growing ache in his chest.

"I hope you don't plan on standing here all night," he finally said as he lowered his arm, exhaling slowly. All traces of tears were gone, though his face was likely to betray his emotions like it always did. He simply smiled, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips, and continued, "As glad as I am to see you, I think I'd rather be inside."

[samuraiprosecutor]

“Considering that...ensemble, I’m not surprised,” Edgeworth replied, the corner of his lips twitching upwards into a soft smirk. Wright’s face was as expressive as ever; he drank in the sight for a moment, imprinting it in his memory like handprints in cement, then turned his gaze on the dark doorway, allowing Wright a few more moments to compose himself.

[attorneyatlol]

"It's warmer than you'd think," Phoenix replied with a chuckle. His gaze remained on Edgeworth the whole time, amazed that the other man was actually standing there, memories intact. As trite as it may have sounded, this was the best Christmas present Phoenix could have hoped to receive this year, and everything in his demeanor spoke to that.

Maybe the community showed mercy after all, he thought, or maybe they were just lucky. Either way, he was certainly counting his blessings.

[nick-4-maya.livejournal.com]

Pearl had been in a different room, unable to hear Phoenix's earlier calls, but she knew the manor's maze-like corridors like the back of her hand, and when she found her way back to where she'd last seen her friend, it was easy enough to feel the sharp draught coming from the door. She shivered a little as the cold wind from outside hit her - but who was at the door, and why hadn't they come in out of the cold yet?

She walked closer, recognising Phoenix as she drew near to the open doorframe. "Mr. Nick?" she piped up. "Who is it at this time of night?" She hurried to stand next to him, to get a better look, and her mouth fell open in a large "o", her eyes widening.

"Mr. Edgeworth!" she exclaimed after a few seconds, a smile breaking out over her face. She could hardly believe it - she thought that his memories were still missing, and she was sure that he wouldn't have come here if he couldn't remember... but that didn't matter, right? She was still really happy to see him, especially on Christmas! "I didn't think you were going to come!"

[samuraiprosecutor]

Any quip Edgeworth might have made in response was interrupted by the familiar, cheery voice. A glance at the doorway confirmed his suspicions. With an unreadable expression, he stared at the girl, as if reminding himself of what she looked like. Then he quickly averted his eyes, clearing his throat with a quiet cough that was almost lost to the wind.

"I wasn't."