Chapter Text
Five minutes into class, and Kris’s eyes were already drooping shut.
Not like it’s their fault (that’s what they’d say, anyways). After the day they’d had yesterday, trying to stop Susie from killing everything in sight then overthrowing the tyrannical King, anyone would be exhausted. And, anyone being put through Berdly’s reading from the book would also be put to sleep. Unless they were laughing at him, that is.
Which is what Susie was doing. She tried to choke down her laughter, and hid it behind her hand when she couldn’t, which was surprisingly polite of her. A strange sense of pride welled up in Kris’s chest.
Susie snuck a glance at the mortified Noelle, hiding herself behind her own copy of the book so she wouldn’t have to look at Berdly, and Kris nodded to themselves before resting their head down on their arms. That would explain why Susie was trying to behave.
Kris closed their eyes and let their mind wander. It wouldn’t hurt to just take a small nap for a few minutes. It’s what they usually did at the start of Alphys’s class, anyways.
A sharp knock at the door interrupted their plans, as well as Berdly’s incessant droning. All ten heads in the classroom turned to the door to the classroom as one. Alphys frowned.
“Huh? Who could that be?” she muttered to herself. Alphys started towards the door, but it opened on its own before she’d even taken a couple steps.
Kris didn’t recognize the man on the other side of the door. Black, spiky hair pointing backwards, a sharp blue suit with a golden chain dangling from the front pocket, mismatched blue and gray eyes that glimmered with something that couldn’t quite be placed. No, Kris hadn’t ever seen him before in their life.
But at once, Kris was paying very close attention, because one thing about this man stood out like a sore thumb in Hometown: he was human.
A spark of recognition flashed in Alphys’s eyes as she saw the man. She gave him a nervous smile and a half-wave as he fully entered the room.
“Mr. Wright!” she greeted. The man gave her a warm, friendly smile that barely reached his eyes.
“Hello again, Ms. Alphys,” he responded. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Alphys waved her hands dismissively.
“Oh, n-no!” she stammered, sounding about as happy as the students were about class being interrupted. “Nothing at all!” Alphys’s nervous smile suddenly dropped as she regarded the man. “I-Is… something wrong?” The man laughed and shook his head.
“No, nothing like that,” he assured. “I was just hoping…” The man’s gaze scanned the classroom. When his eyes locked with Kris’s, his eyes lit up. Kris’s stomach dropped. “Since Kris and Susie weren’t here yesterday, I was hoping I could talk to them?” He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the room again. “If it’s not too much of a bother…”
“No, no!” Alphys said, again sounding far more excited than she should have been. “They’re all yours!”
Susie glanced back at Kris, heavy suspicion in her eyes.
“Hey, uh, Kris?” she muttered. “Do you know this guy?” Kris shook their head, and Susie returned her gaze to where the man stood expectantly in the doorway. Slowly, the two stood up and followed the man out into the hallway. Kris glanced around for any hints of what was going on in their classmates’ expressions, but all they got was a supportive smile and thumbs-up from Noelle.
Outside, two more people stood by the lockers, both also human. A younger man, dressed in a red waistcoat and slacks, and a woman who must have been around Asriel’s age. The man stood just in front of them before turning to face Kris and Susie.
“It’s nice to finally meet you two,” he said, smiling warmly. “My name is Phoenix Wright. I’m a defense attorney.” At the word “attorney”, Susie’s eyes widened, and she took a step back.
“You’re a lawyer?” she repeated.
“Don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble!” Phoenix said hastily, throwing his hands out to stop Susie from leaving. “We’re here on a case, and we’d just like to ask you a few questions.” Susie cautiously returned to Kris’s side, though the suspicion didn’t leave her eyes. Phoenix quickly turned to the two people behind him.
“Oh, this is Apollo Justice,” he gestured to the younger man, “and this is Athena Cykes,” he gestured to the woman. “They’re defense attorneys, too. The three of us are working together on this case.”
“Must be a hell of a case if you need three people,” Susie muttered. Phoenix shrugged and looked off to the side.
“It is,” he agreed, “but that’s how things go at our agency. We work together on even the smallest of cases.” He turned back to Susie and flashed her a smile. “So don’t worry about it too much.”
If there was any way to make Kris worry more , it was that. But they kept quiet. The sooner these lawyers got off their back, the better.
“What’s the case, anyways?” Susie grumbled. “Don’t remember hearing about something happening that would get lawyers involved.” Phoenix looked to the side, still smiling, but a guarded look settled over his expression.
“We can’t tell you that,” he said. “Someone hired us to investigate. That’s all you need to know.”
“Why are you only talking to us?” Susie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“We aren’t,” Phoenix said. “We actually talked to all of your classmates yesterday. We would have talked to you two then, but… well, obviously you weren’t there.” Phoenix’s eyes sparked again. “Actually, that reminds me. Why weren’t the two of you in class yesterday?”
Susie and Kris tensed simultaneously.
“Everyone said they’d seen the two of you at the start of class,” Phoenix mused. “But then you left and didn’t come back.” Phoenix’s gaze softened for a moment. “They were all pretty worried about you. Well, really just Kris, for some reason…”
“Well, we just… uh…,” Susie stammered. She glanced at Kris desperately, and they gave her a shrug in response. Phoenix chuckled to himself.
“Did you just decide to skip class, or something?” he asked.
“Yes!” Susie answered loudly. Kris winced at the volume screamed right in their ear. “That is what we were doing!”
Three near-identical stares bored into the pair for a long, silent moment. Susie shifted her weight and grinned nervously. Kris held their ground as tightly as they could. Finally, Phoenix shot them a small smile.
“I see,” he hummed. “I probably should tell you off, but,” he shrugged, “I don’t have much ground to stand on.”
Phoenix turned back to them, smiling, and it was as if the moment of tension had never happened. Kris blinked and glanced around, and their eyes landed on Apollo, staring off into the distance.
Staring in the direction of the closet.
It was irrational, and Kris knew it well, but for some reason they got the sinking feeling that he knew exactly where they and Susie had been.
In the end, far more than “just a few questions” were asked. The interrogation was long and meandering, by design. There was no pattern one could glean from it to discern just what they were trying to figure out.
The school day had ended by the time Susie and Kris were allowed to go, but Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena remained in that hallway for several minutes after, turning over the results of their interrogation.
“They’re definitely hiding something,” Apollo stated out loud. He sighed and leaned against the lockers. “But I don’t see how any of it’s relevant to our case.”
“You never know,” Phoenix muttered, half lost in his own thoughts. “Sometimes pursuing these tangential questions leads you closer to the truth. Remember the Kitaki case?” Apollo winced.
“I try not to,” he groaned. He peered around the corner of the hallway, frowning. “Whatever it is the two of them are hiding, I’d bet it’s connected to that old supply closet Alphys was telling us about. They kept glancing over in that direction when you asked them about yesterday.”
“I don’t think it’s anything bad,” Athena chimed in. “Susie was really happy when she was talking about it.” Phoenix raised an eyebrow at her.
“Considering her reputation, that might still be a bad thing,” he said. Athena just laughed and waved him off.
“Come on, Boss, she can’t be all that bad,” she said. “She’s like Simon. All bark and no bite.” Phoenix and Apollo shot her identical incredulous expressions.
“Taka bites,” Apollo countered. Athena threw her hands up and glared at him.
“You know what I mean!” she huffed. Phoenix placed himself between Athena and Apollo with his hands raised, placating.
“I think the supply closet is worth investigating, anyways,” he said. “At the very least, we should be able to confirm if Susie and Kris were actually in there yesterday.”
“You’re probably right,” Apollo agreed, adding under his breath, “Not like we have any other leads to follow.” Athena jumped up and clapped her hands.
“Finally, we actually get to investigate something!” she cheered. “Let’s go!” Athena started down the hallway, leaving Phoenix and Apollo stumbling after her to catch up.
Athena threw open the doors to the closet, then immediately took a step back. Behind her, Phoenix and Apollo came to a screeching halt.
An unnatural darkness seeped out from the closet, driving out the light in the corridor rather than being driven back by it. It was impossible to see anything inside the closet, everything enshrouded by the inky void. Athena glanced over her shoulder at Phoenix and Apollo.
“Do… either of you have a flashlight?” she asked half-heartedly. Phoenix shook his head after a belated pause, while Apollo remained frozen still. Athena turned back to the closet and took a deep breath.
“T-There’s probably a light switch somewhere in there,” she said. “No problem. We just have to go in and find it!” Athena marched forward, but her steps faltered as she neared until she stopped just before the threshold.
The darkness seemed to span far beyond where it should. Like it was pushing back the walls of the closet by sheer force of will until they were far out of sight. Athena reached out behind herself to grab Phoenix and Apollo by the hand.
“It’s just the dark,” she reasoned aloud. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Her words were unconvincing even to herself. Not even the light from Widget’s bright purple screen could pierce through the black veil before them.
“Maybe we should just turn back on this idea,” Apollo suggested weakly. Athena steeled herself and glared down the darkness. Somehow, it shriveled to that more than any of the actual light.
“No, we’ve got this!” she said. “We know Kris and Susie are hiding something here. It’s our job to find it!”
And so, reluctantly, the three of them crossed into the never-ending abyss.