The Jurist Trial - Part 3

[take_that]

By the next day, Vera is in the hospital, in critical condition. There’s no choice but to proceed with the trial without her.

I’ve given Apollo all the evidence I’ve collected, Phoenix thinks. He can do this.

Apollo is able to put two and two together, of course - the poison was in the nail polish she had  - the one that looks just like Kristoph Gavin’s.

Klavier, looking paler by the minute, objects, naturally. But the possibility is undeniable. 

And so, Gavin is summoned.

—-

“Mr. Justice,” Gavin smiles at his former protege. “I’ve heard you’ve been doing quite well for yourself.”

Gavin seems to know quite a lot about the case already. Phoenix isn’t surprised. 

When Gavin asks his brother if he agrees with the accusation, Klavier stays silent. He’s afraid, Phoenix realizes.

This kid’s been manipulated by his brother his entire life. How the hell did I not see that?

Gavin begins his testimony. Apollo stares. Phoenix has seen this before, but only now recognizes it for what it is -the Gramarye ability to Perceive.

“The prosecution’s case holds. She poisoned her father, then attempted to poison herself.” Gavin pushes his glasses up his face. “Surely, you aren’t going to suggest I was responsible for poisoning her father, too?”

There it is.

“Gotcha!” Apollo shouts. “It was you who killed Drew Misham.”

Gavin’s glasses flash.“A bluff worthy of your new mentor, Mr. Wright.”

“Oh, really? But you see, I saw it.” Apollo presses on. “Right when you said ‘her father, too’, your hand tensed unnaturally, and a little devil appeared to give me the news.”

Devil? Phoenix thinks. That must have been what Vera saw.

Apollo explains that the framed stamp Vera had been given was used by her father - the same one that was covered in poison.

Gavin argues that he had no reason to want Drew Misham dead. Phoenix turns his gaze to Apollo, expectantly.

Right on cue, Apollo presents the notebook page as evidence.

That damn page ruined my life…Phoenix thinks. Only fair that it’s getting some use now.

The judge recognizes it, as expected. So does Gavin.

Apollo argues that it was never proven that Phoenix Wright was the one who requested the forgery to be made. He then points out that the letter requesting the forgery instructed Misham to use the enclosed stamp - the same one that poisoned him and took his life! Gavin hadn’t counted on Vera keeping the stamp - so he ended up dying seven years later than expected.

“The one who schemed up the forged diary page was the one who poisoned the stamp,” Klavier argues. “And it was Phoenix Wright who presented the forged evidence seven years ago.”

Apollo shakes his head. “Phoenix Wright was put on the case the day before the trial started. He didn’t have time to request a forgery!”

Klavier blinks. “The day before…?”

“Now here’s a question,” Apollo continues. “Just who was Shadi Enigmar’s previous defense 

attorney?”

“No..” Klavier is leaning over the stand, looking like he’s in physical pain. “Th-this can’t all be…”

Apollo nods.”It was you! Kristoph Gavin!”

Gavin holds up a hand. “Let me begin by denying this…”

“Objection!” Apollo shouts. “It’s easy enough to look up, Mr. Gavin.”

“And impossible to prove if you can’t.” Gavin retorts. “Attorneys are registered with the court the day before the trial begins. In other words, no record remains in the court. How exactly did you intend to prove Phoenix Wright’s claim?”

Phoenix leans forward, gripping the edge of the gallery wall.

Klavier, too, begins to demand evidence, his face growing paler by the minute, threatening to leave the case otherwise.

The instant Apollo presents the letter from Misham, Gavin’s demeanor changes.

“That…scrap of paper?” Even from the gallery, Phoenix can hear a waver in Gavin’s voice. “I’m afraid I can’t let you submit that.” 

“Is there a problem?”

“There is.” Gavin smirks, quickly recovering. “How could you possibly have that? You couldn’t.”

Just then, Trucy recognizes the handwriting on the letter as Phoenix’s own. Just like I knew she would.

Gavin scowls, recognizing what must have happened. “It appears Mr. Wright has yet to be cured of his bad forging habit.”

Phoenix grits his teeth.

The judge rules that only true evidence is permissible in court.

Don’t you dare, Phoenix’s breath quickens. Not when we’re this close.

Just then, Klavier objects.

“Frankly, I’m relieved,” he says. “This has been bothering me for seven whole years. Now’s our chance. Let’s clean out the family closet, eh, Kristoph?”

“Klavier…you’re spinning out of control.” Gavin’s tone is icy. “Calm yourself down before you say something you’ll regret.”

“Spinning out of whose control?” Klavier retorts. “Mine?…or yours?”

Gavin threatens Klavier’s reputation, his fame. Apollo calls out, urging him to remember what’s really important.

Klavier smiles, finally, insisting that he never had. He’d known Phoenix would present that evidence.

“Don’t do this, Klavier-”

“I knew because you told me, Kristoph!”

—

Klavier insists Kristoph tell the court what was going on that day.

But still, that same damn smirk stays on Gavin’s face. “Why not? I’ve achieved what I came here to do. I see no harm in a little reminiscing.”

The courtroom is silent as Gavin speaks. He talks about visiting Zak in his cell, playing poker. He lost, and Zak sent him away.

“To be honest, I don’t know what his reasons were to this day.” “As far as I can tell, he dismissed me as his representation…because I lost in a game of poker.”

Kristoph sniffs.

“I couldn’t believe it. Phoenix wright? A second rate attorney who relies on luck and bluffs!”

That’s what poker’s all about, Phoenix grins.

“He dismissed me, and then went with that pitiful excuse for a man? He deserved to die for that error alone.”

But still, Gavin refuses to admit his involvement. “My point is, those two men shamed me, and I  could not forgive that. Phoenix Wright and Zak Gramarye both deserved what they got.” He smirks again, not a trace of guilt.

“So you asked Mr. Misham to forge that evidence, so you could ‘win’! But then, when you were dismissed as Zak Gramarye’s attorney, you used your forged evidence as a trap!”

“You’re free to imaging what you will. My point is that all that I had imagined came to pass. Everything went perfectly.”

And that’s when Apollo drops the bombshell - Shadi Smith, the man Gavin murdered - was really Zak Gramarye!

Gavin forged the evidence to ensure a win, knowing that successfully defending a celebrity would lead to fame and fortune. He’d sent the forager a poisoned stamp to keep the Mishams from talking.  And then, as an extra precaution, he’d given Vera nail polish laced with the same poison, knowing she bit her nails when she was nervous.

Gavin is still smiling. As far as he’s concerned, he killed a man named Shadi Smith, and he is not the one on trial. And he’s not the one who made Vera bite her nails.

“I believe this discussion has reached its conclusion,” the judge says.

No! Not when we’re this close!

“Without direct proof, you have nothing,” Gavin nods. “Isn’t that right, Klavier?

“Unfortunately, yes, Kristoph. You’re right.” That is, you would have been right…until now.”

Gavin blinks. “What?”

“Did the news not reach your desk in solitary? The eyes of the nation are on this courtroom today. This is the trial case for a new judicial system.”

“That’s right!” Apollo chimes in. “The Jurist System!”

“The current judicial system has been deemed too ‘closed off’ from society,” the judge explains. “This new system attempts to inject the wisdom of common citizens into the law.”

“Common citizens? Wisdom? Is this some kind of joke?” Phoenix can see the veins appearing on Gavin’s face and neck. “What could we possibly gain by doing this? Entrusting our judicial system to a mindless, emotional mob of irrational mouth-breathers?”

The judge smiles. “Common citizens have something called ‘common sense.’ Common sense is not restricted by the law.”

“Nonsense!” Gavin bears his teeth as he shouts the word. “There is only room for two in this court: Me, and the law! Keep the riff-raff out Out, I say!”

I knew it. Phoenix smiles. This is why he’d picked this trial to test the new system - he knew this is what would anger Gavin the most. And there’s no way they’d see him as innocent now.

“They’re not in the court, actually,” Apollo turns to the front doors of the courtroom. They’re watching everything by video camera.”

Gavin is shaking now. “H-how can you…allow this?”

“Incidentally,” Apollo continues, “The one responsible for making this happen…was Phoenix Wright.”

Phoenix steps to the front, making sure Gavin can see him. He smiles.

Gavin, his face growing red, pounds a fist on the stand. 

“So…everything was leading to this. Of course…right…Wright…Wright…”

Then, he throws back his head, filling the courtroom with a piercing scream of Phoenix’s name.

—

Gavin stands, breathing heavily, his hair undone. “I won’t accept…I can’t accept…this is no court! Law..! Law is everything! Law is absolute! You’d let ignorant swine soil your courts?”

“Kristoph…” Klavier says gently. “It’s over.” He shakes his head. “The law is absolute? You can’t be serious.”

“W-what?”

“The law isn’t absolute. It’s filled with contradictions.”

The judge nods. “The law is the end product of many years of history…the fruit of human knowledge! Like a gem, polished to a gleam through trials…and errors. It is this fruit we receive, and pass on, and face in our time. And it is always changing, growing. Nurturing it is out task as human beings.”

Huh. Didn’t take the judge for a poet.

“Except for you, Kristoph,” Klavier pipes up. “You aren’t changing. You’ve stopped.” He leans forward. “You’re not needed anymore.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Phoenix beams, full of pride in them all - Apollo, Trucy, Miles, the judge - even Klavier.

But in the end, it’s up to the jurors.

—-

Vera is declared innocent, of course.

When the verdict is announced, Gavin lets out a laugh, one that echoes throughout the chamber.

All that ever mattered to him was control, Phoenix thinks. Of the court, of his reputation, of his brother…

Knowing that he had lost it…it broke him in the end.

Phoenix steps out into the lobby, inhaling and exhaling deeply, for what feels like the first time in years.

It doesn’t quite feel real yet.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Klavier sitting on the sofa in the lobby, with Trucy standing in front of him. She pulls off her hat, and from it, produces a bouquet of flowers.

“Just to say,” Trucy tells him, “We don’t blame you.”

Phoenix smiles approvingly. He’ll talk to the kids in a moment.

He ducks through the courthouse, coming out the front doors. He leans back against the building, staring up at the sky.

“Well,” says a voice beside him, “I’d call that a success.”

Phoenix whirls around.

Standing outside the doors is none other that Miles Edgeworth.

“Wh..” Phoenix is breathless for a moment. “What are you doing here?’

“Observing the MASON system in action. Not to mention the test of the Jurist System.” Edgeworth makes his way towards him, and after a moment, takes Phoenix’s hand.

“It’s over, Wright,” he says softly. “You did it.”

Phoenix feels his eyes welling up. All composure gone, he closes the gap between the two of them in an embrace. He feels Edgeworth startle against him, before hesitantly putting his arms around Phoenix in turn.

Phoenix can’t stop a small sob escaping from his lips, which eventually breaks into a laugh. He can’t remember the last time he laughed genuinely.

No more gathering evidence. No more glancing over his shoulder. 

He’s innocent. He’s free.