(Route) [003.5]: The fateful meeting. [action for Kay Faraday]

[corvus_veritas]

[It has to be, what, three, four in the morning now? Maybe even five, who knows. He's been up for almost a whole entire day and could collapse any second, but he doesn't feel even the slightest bit tired right now. Even if he did feel tired, he wouldn't care.

Right now, there are more important things than sleep. Like standing outside of the Pokemon

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[yattagarasu]

[ Kay is proud of her entrances. She likes her high vantage points, her dramatic speeches, and the fact that she can never reveal herself quietly.

But this is the most silent she's ever been. It took a good ten minutes to get Flapper to stay behind, even longer to coax her Murkrow off her shoulder. The two Byrnes would meet soon enough, but she needed to do this - mainly - on her own. Oliver the Absol is the exception, because he was Badd's.

So soon enough, there's a figure slowly making her way along (ironic, because she'd been in such a hurry before).

... And he's there. He's right there, and Kay stops in her tracks. What does she do? What does she say? Seeing and hearing him was one thing, but being so close to her father...

... It's agonizing and wonderful all at once.

Give her a minute, she'll take a few more steps, fighting to look composed. ]

[yattagarasu]

[ this is far more serious talk than Kay ever wanted to go through in her life. It's one thing to relate this to Edgeworth, who had at least been there for most of it, just in intervals. It's one thing to admit this to Kaito, who is the only person in her life who knows exactly how she feels, because he'd gone through the same thing. To stand over a makeshift grave with Crow and discuss father figures who were no longer with them, to tell the whole thing to Johan, to drop hints of it to Leon... none of this makes it ache as much as her chest does now. She could smile after that.

This? She's not so sure.

But Kay retracts a hand to touch the pin. She'd been having her Murkrow hold onto it to avoid questions, but she'd wanted to wear it this time. ]

I... found your journal a little while ago, and I learned that you were the Yatagarasu. Back on the day you... [ she pauses. Amends. ] On that day, it was set up to look like a double homicide at first, and then they pinned the murder on Gummy. Even when I knew he didn't do it

[corvus_veritas]

[Byrne takes in every word like bitter medicine. Even if it's hard to swallow, he needs it and he knows he has to have it. After she's done, he's still not sure what part of Kay's explanation stings the most.

To hear that Calisto wasn't even related to Cece...that just shatters all his remaining doubts. Her betraying him is suddenly so much more believable when she turned out to be a spy from the very beginning. But then she killed someone else that day? So she couldn't stop at him, she had to murder someone else, too? How dare she throw away life so easily. How dare she blame someone innocent for the murder (even if Byrne has no idea who 'Gummy' is). Not only that - no, not only that, she then she tried to shoot someone else in the meantime! Mr. Edgeworth, in fact. For a moment Byrne thinks of the child Edgeworth he knows in Johto and winces at the thought of Calisto trying to harm him. No, not the child Edgeworth, twenty year old Edgeworth. Still so young regardless, and just starting his career as a prosecutor...if she had killed

[yattagarasu]

[ in the ten years she'd been lucky to have him with her, solid, supportive, alive-- Kay has never seen her father cry. Maybe she's seen him exhausted, or sad, with slumped shoulders and a broad palm covering his eyes, and maybe the lines on his face had deepened with anxiety, but not once had her father ever openly wept in front of her.

And it's all her fault.

Kay temporarily forgets that this is for the best. She's always lived her life through her beliefs and conviction, how she feels-- through honesty, and right now, it's not logic that comforts her. It's not Edgeworth's way of reasoning, it's the fact that the most important person in her life is crying and she's helpless to make it better.

But she remembers what Byrne did when she cried, and she eases her arms back around him. It's much easier to hug him as a seventeen-year-old, even if he can't lift her in his arms like he used to. ]

It'll be okay... m-maybe not now, or anytime soon, but... what I did, I did because I knew it was the right thing to do. And right now,

[corvus_veritas]

[And so the roles have flipped - he's the one sobbing and she's the one comforting him. He'd be laughing if he weren't so pained right now. All he can do is tighten his hug and just...let it all out.]

I-I'm sorry--[is all he can say. His voice is so very weak from the tears, and that makes him cry even more out of shame because damnit he hates crying in front of people, especially his daughter. He'd always been so good at hiding it, too, keeping it all inside until he was alone, so no one would have to see him lose his composure. Partly out of pride, but mostly to make sure his daughter wouldn't have to see her father weep. No child should ever have to go through that. Ever.

But the tears are inevitable here, just as hearing about his death had been. His daughter's words reassure him, and, just as she had done a moment ago, Byrne cries until he calms himself down, slowly but surely. Even after he's done crying, he doesn't loosen his grip for a second.]

[yattagarasu]

[ why is he apologizing? It was Kay's fault for taking seven years to track down her father's killer. It was her fault for never having known, for not being able to protect him the way he had always protected her. She hadn't been able to visit his grave last year, but she'd made do with a makeshift one, and told him everything that had happened.

That had been much less painful than this, but like this, she gets her father back. For how long, she doesn't know, but he's here. And she's not going to let go until he does. ]

[corvus_veritas]

[Byrne has no intention of letting go anytime soon. Now that he's over his initial shock, he once more can find words to say. And though his voice is still weak, he's determined to say what he means to say without breaking down into sobs again.]

I'm...honestly, I'm not sure...exactly what to make of all this. With my death, and Calisto, and you succeeding me, I-I... [Deep breaths, Faraday. Deep breaths.] But regardless of that, I want you to know, I...

[And now he pulls away, but only far enough to be able to look his daughter in the eyes. His face shows more pain than it has in years.]

.....I'm sorry... I'm sorry I had to go and leave you to bear this alone. I only wanted you to grow up with a peaceful life...that's something I was fighting for as the Yatagarasu. But doing that took me away from you, and left you alone so suddenly that day, and... [He swallows hard.] I never wanted that for you.

['I shouldn't have been so rash to run off and do that without thinking of the consequences', 'I shouldn't have been so selfish and

[yattagarasu]

[ again-- WHY is he apologizing? Kay's eyes are clouded, more with confusion than anything else. It's not his fault. She knows Byrne would never have willingly left her, especially not like that. And Badd had told her that they'd just wanted her to live a peaceful, happy life. That had been one of the reasons. It's true that at this current point, her father is dead, and her uncle is in jail. Her mother's relatives aren't that close to her.

But she'd met Edgeworth again, and he had become... something like family, him and Gumshoe. She has her best friends here. She's got family here. And Kay finally smiles and moves to meet Byrne's eyes. ]

You're here now. And I'm... happy. [ she pauses, then repeats this firmly. ] I'm happy. I learned the truth.

[corvus_veritas]

[There's no such thing as a perfect parent. Every father everywhere has things they do well and things they do wrong. And every one of them has fears.

Byrne is no exception. He fears for losing his daughter to disasters like crime, drugs, murder, and that one guy who erroneously thinks he's good enough to be her boyfriend. Common paternal fears. But more than anything, he's afraid of screwing up, of making terrible parental mistakes he feels he could never be forgiven for. This is why he feels so hurt right now - by dying, he knows he's left her without the father she loved so dearly. That she had to experience that hurt at such a young age. It may sound silly - and in fact, it is pretty silly once you get right down to it - but to him, knowing that she was ever hurt is everything he dreads.

However...seeing Kay smile now, to hear her tell him that she's happy...]

You're...happy? [He says this in a 'please, assure me you're telling me the truth and not just a lie to cheer me up' sort of way. More than anything, he just wants to be

[yattagarasu]

[ Don't worry, Daddy, your child is far too dense oblivious busy to have a boyfriend anytime soon. And at his question, Kay falls silent for a minute.

It's true that she'll always have that aching hole inside of her, the one that only her father could have filled. But she'd caught his killer. She'd helped to catch the man who had ordered his death. She had people who still cared about her, who had become important to her.

And here, she has someone who completely understands exactly what she went through, what she lost and what she gained. ]

Yeah. I'm happy.