PW: Winter Breeze

[edenbound]

Fandom: Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney, Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations)
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Rating: G
Summary: When Franziska returns to face Phoenix in court again, she pays Edgeworth a visit first. For yuletide.


"Franziska. What a surprise." He has the audacity to seem glad to see her as he places the papers he was reading through back down on his desk. "To what do I owe the honour?"

She keeps her voice as cold as a winter breeze. "Perhaps I gave thought to what I should be striking down with my whip, and decided it was you, Miles Edgeworth."

"Dramatic as ever." He stands, pushing the papers into a neat pile and putting them neatly into a folder. There's that she can still admire about him, at least: he's never left behind his best habits, his precise way of doing things. He never has a hair out of place, even now. "I was expecting you, to be truthful."

"Oh? What makes you think you know me well enough for that?"

"I don't think I know you at all, right now." Edgeworth is actually smiling, though, as he returns the file to its place on his shelves. "But Phoenix has been quaking in his boots for the past few weeks. I wouldn't have thought he'd be the first to know you were coming back. Do you have a soft spot for him, Franziska?"

"Only a foolish fool such as you would think a foolish thing like that," she says, automatically. She is, she thinks, blushing a little. She hopes he will put that down to anger -- which, of course, it is. "I'm here to defeat him in court. So of course I called him to let him know what will be facing him."

"Mm," Edgeworth says, thoughtfully. He smiles again: she's not sure she likes that smile -- there's something amused about it, like he knows something she doesn't. Not that she likes any other smile of his any better. She longs to use her whip on him, to wipe it off his face. "Do you know when you'll next be facing him in court?"

"In two days time," she says, icy still. "In two days time, I will face Phoenix Wright again in court. And defeat him!"

"I wonder." He gives her an appraising look. "You've grown up a little, Fran."

"Don't call me that."

"My apologies," he says, but he's definitely amused now, hiding a smile behind the formality. "Aren't you going to tell me that I've grown up, too?"

"No."

"What are you here for, then, Franziska?"

"I heard that you've served as a defence attorney several times since you returned here." She gives him a sharp look. "Have you given up on our little chase?"

"I'm still a prosecutor, naturally." He shrugs slightly. "Although it's true a few... favours have been called in. I always intended to be a defence attorney, you know. Perhaps I would become a defence attorney, if Phoe -- Wright and I weren't a well-matched team as it is."

"A prosecutor and a defence attorney can't be a team," Franziska says, acidly. "Or have you forgotten everything Manfred von Karma taught you?"

"Not everything. Your father could have been a fine prosecutor, and there's no doubt that he was a strong man. But I don't enjoy his methods any more now than I did at first." Another tiny shrug. "You haven't learnt everything yet yourself, Franziska."

"H-how dare you." She draws herself up straighter, like she's got a steel pole for a spine. Her father would have approved of her now, she thinks: the comforting lie that she's carried with her for as long as she's known how to lie to herself. "I'm a genius prosecutor!"

"Last time I saw you, that's not what you said."

"One can become a genius." She smiles now, like a sharpened icicle. "Not that you could."

"If it's always at the expense of what's right, I'd rather not," he says, surprisingly vehement. "I think I'd better come to court on Monday to make sure you don't take things further than Wright can handle. Unless your fondness for him will soften the blow."

She longs now to take her whip in hand and do something about the insolent expression on his face. She resolves that Wright will be whipped the hardest on Monday. She wonders if she can make him pass out in the middle of court again. That, she thinks, would be most amusing.

"I'll see you in court, then," she says, and is shocked to the core when he smiles again, pushing away his tension.

"It will be a pleasure to see how much you've grown, Franziska. Surprise me."

"That won't be hard."

"Perhaps not. If that's all you've come to say, then by all means, go now and prepare for your court appearance."

She doesn't understand him anymore. Not that she ever did, of course, but -- once, they were more alike than this. Once, he'd never have spoken of himself and Wright as a team. He'd never have teased her about her fondness for someone.

And the office wasn't quite as neat as she'd expect, she realises, looking around again as she turns to leave. There's a tie and a blue jacket draped over a chair, an untidy pile of papers stuffed underneath it, almost out of sight but not quite fully hidden.

She turns, then, at the door. "Tell me something, Miles Edgeworth."

He raises an eyebrow. She wonders, for a moment, if he gets them plucked. "What is it?"

"Are you fond of Phoenix Wright?"

"Ah." He's smiling again. "You're a smart girl, Franziska von Karma. Figure it out for yourself, before I see you again."

He's mocking her, she knows it. She turns on her heel and marches out, resisting the urge to do anything so foolish as slamming the door behind her. She wraps herself in icy dignity as she takes the lift down, as she steps out into the street. She looks up at his window, wondering if he can feel her angry glare even at that distance.

"Foolishly foolish fool," she mutters, and not now without a trace of affection.