The End - [Active / Open]

[daisychainmods]

Characters: EVERY CHARACTER in Manhattan!
Content: It's time to say goodbye...
Location: The DRT Room on board the Ultimatum.
Time of day: The remainder of time
Warnings: Expect some sadness, tears and hopeful promises...
Notes: This thread will be party-style. You are free to make your own subthreads, and know that you can tag into ANY SUBTHREAD

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[cafedeinfierno]

Diego looked unusually serene, leaning against one of the railings on the outside of the ship. He had a thermos full of coffee at his side and he was well into his eighth cup. The first eight cups he'd had in days.

It was amazing what storming a CIA ship screaming about your medical condition and how you were a lawyer with enough evidence to put the entire crew up the river for a good, long time could do for you.

[mayaheemayahoo]

Maya was out on the railings too, watching the ocean lapping against the side of the great boat. Pearly must be around here somewhere... and Nick too, as a matter of fact. And Mr. Dresden and Iris and the Tringham brothers and tons of people she had to talk to before they could go home.

She looked over her shoulder at Diego, still serenely drinking his coffee. "I can't believe we're really going home," she said happily. Home... back home, to Los Angeles. Home, without monsters and with all the food she could possibly eat. Home, with Mia.

"Sis is gonna be surprised to see us."

[cafedeinfierno]

Diego smiled a little smugly around the rim of his cup. Behind his visor, he glanced at the ring on his finger.

"I don't think she'll be too surprised, hermanita."

[informthetruth]

Well, that wasn't a surprise. Alternate dimensions or no, Diego Armando was Diego Armando. And Maya was there too.

Phoenix knew he had to talk to them, to... damn it, he didn't want to say that to them. How could he? He was going to go home and they were going to be right there.

He started off slow. "Uh... hey."

[cafedeinfierno]

Diego turned to Phoenix and watched him carefully with a perfectly neutral look on his face.

"Well now. They say a man will never know his true measure until he's pressed in heat and the world can see how much he'll bend. That's one of my rules," he said cryptically.

Then the corner of his lip rose. "You're a good man, Mr. Phoenix Wright. I'm not surprised she chose you for her protege."

[informthetruth]

Phoenix couldn't help letting out a relieved laugh at that. At Godot's words, at the fact that they were all okay, at... everything, really. Everything and all of it. But when he spoke, he did so professionally. "Anything I did wouldn't have been of any use if it wasn't for everyone else. But... thanks, Diego." He hoped he could call him Diego. "The same goes for you, you know."

He looked to Maya. "Nothing too bad happened to either of you, right? And where's Pearls?"

[mayaheemayahoo]

"Nah, I'm fine, Nick," Maya assured him. "And Mr. Armando was really grumpy earlier, but he's had a few so he seems all right now. Pearly's probably around somewhere... she knows where we are. I think she went to go talk to some people."

Maya had a cheerful smile on her face, but it was obviously wavering a bit. She was already thinking about how this would work. If the time travel episodes of Steel Samurai had taught her anything (and they had), then this Nick would go somewhere different than her. Her Nick was still back in Los Angeles and safe. But this Nick was still a Nick, and she'd miss him all the same.

[informthetruth]

Phoenix just nodded; Diego seemed like his usual self. And Maya was right about Pearl, it was safe now anyway so she would be fine for now. This was the same girl who rode a bus by herself for two hours to get from an isolated mountain village to Los Angeles, after all.

Phoenix's smile faded until it was just a small one, and he sighed. "This is going to be weird."

/joins the AA crew way belated ;o;

[spiritualpearl]

Pearl didn't quite understand what was going on now. She'd gotten the gist of it, but she didn't understand everything that had to do with it. She didn't know where she was going or who she'd need to see or be with anymore. A very confused spirit medium was who walked up at that precise moment and started bawling. Silently, but still.

Honestly, she couldn't have timed it better if she'd tried.

[mayaheemayahoo]

Maya kneeled down next to Pearl and pulled her into a big hug. "Don't be sad, Pearly!" she said cheerfully, giving her cousin a soothing pat on the back. "We get to go home now! And we'll have a chance to see everybody again. You know it!"

[informthetruth]

Pearl's state made Phoenix feel a pang of pity, and he was glad to see Maya hugging her. He hated to see either of them upset.

Which is why he hesitated to say what he knew he had to, after what Maya had to say. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked at Diego, trying to signal non-verbally what he had to say, then back at the cousins. "Er... yeah. We're going to go home now. To our home universes."

[spiritualpearl]

Maya's hug was reciprocated as soon as Pearl felt it, but it was Phoenix's words that brought her head up and the glum sort of nod. "I-I... I don't want to leave."

It was odd, to be sure. Pearl had hated it here, been so scared for so long, but now that it came down to it, she didn't want to leave people. Fletcher and Bolt were still here. She'd likely never see them again. Things were going to be... hard for a while.

But if she stayed, she wouldn't see Mystic Maya or Mr. Nick or Mr. Diego ever again and that would be so horrible. Pearl's first duty was to her cousin... wherever Mystic Maya went, so, too, would Pearl.

"M-mystic Maya..."

[mayaheemayahoo]

"Pearlyyyy." Maya hugged her tightly. She got the feeling she knew what Nick was about to say. Nick wasn't going to the same place as her and Diego. And Pearl too.

"Listen, Pearly. It isn't goodbye," she said soothingly. "Any Maya you ever find, me or any other version of me, will always be your big cousin and you'll always be my favorite. I'll take care of you no matter what happens, okay?"

She pulled her arms out from around Pearl and stood up, looking back at Nick. "And Nick. No matter which me you go back to, you'll always be my best friend."

[informthetruth]

He didn't know where that lump in his throat had come from all of a sudden, or why his eyes had started watering. It's not like he had allergies, and besides, they were inside. It was completely mysterious.

Phoenix Wright, a grown man who had just spent the past month surviving the most terrifying situation of his life, was not about to cry.

"I know, Maya." He found himself struggling for words; Maya addressing the issue made it seem more real. "And I'm sure we'll see each other again."

[spiritualpearl]

None of this was making any sense to Pearl but Mystic Maya seemed to think things would be okay. The littlest Fey looked up into her cousin's eyes and tried to nod, but the tears were just coming too thick and too strong. Still, she had to try. Whatever happened, she knew she was going home.

So she simply nodded, eyes wide. "You'll be at home, right? All of you?" She was including Mr. Diego in that one, too.

[inthephonebook]

"Like coming back to life, isn't it," Harry remarked, noting that euphoric look on Diego's face.

He supposed the man had plenty of reason to be happy. He'd found the black fire that flowed through his veins, and soon he would find the majestic kitten who had her claws in his heart.

...Hell's bells what had Diego done to him?