Aka Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Maya talk about the good times with Mia over dinner. 

Beware, my friends, as this chapter contains spoilers for Game 1, trial 5, Game 2, Trial 2, and Game 3, trial 1~

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Maya didn't know what spurred her to ask the two to come to lunch with her. It had been... Three years to the day since Mia's passing and she just needed to spend it with someone who understood her pain. That's why she asked Phoenix to come. Edgeworth? Well, the guy really needs to get out of his office more. 

She asked the three of them to meet at the local burger joint, hers and Pearls' favorite. Pearl was too wrapped up in her training to come along and honestly... Maya didn't really want her to. She was afraid she'd break down around the other two and she didn't want Pearly seeing that. 

"Good afternoon Maya!" Phoenix cheerfully greeted her at the table, having found the young spirit medium quite easily. 

"Afternoon, Nick!" Maya smiled as happily as she could, already having a hard time keeping in her tears. 

Phoenix pulled up a seat next to Maya, Edgeworth stumbling in a bit later. Edgeworth is tall, a fact that Maya should've accounted for when forgetting the doorframe to this place was... Short. 

Seeing the head prosecutor duck through the door after comically bonking his head on the frame was quite hilarious, but Maya would never admit she saw that. 

"Good afternoon, Mr. Edgeworth!" Maya's strong face was cracking little by little. 

"Afternoon, Ms. Fey. So, what was the reason I was called here today?" Edgeworth asked, quirking his brow. 

"Can't I just ask two of my closest friends to dinner?" Maya asked with a big (fake) smile. 

"..." Phoenix deadpanned. "Maya, you're broke. There's no way you just 'asked us to lunch.'"

Maya's grand smile slowly fell until her face was devoid of emotion. 

"It's... Been three years and... I just needed to see you two..." She softly sniffled, knowing that the waterworks could start at any second. 

Phoenix's' face dropped as well. 

"Oh, that's right. I was, y'know, almost hoping to forget almost..." 

Edgeworth just remained silent because, truth be told, he forgot what happened, or is just super out of the loop. 

"Somedays I can't believe Mia's gone. Sometimes I wake up in bed, hoping to roll over and see she's asleep beside me, comforting me about my nightmares," Maya said softly, almost hoping the other two wouldn't hear. 

That's right, Maya's sister was murdered in her office three years ago. Ever since, Maya and Phoenix haven't been the same, but Edgeworth could swear sometimes he saw Mia in court standing besides Nick. 

"Maya, I don't quite understand your situation, but I'm very sorry for your loss," Edgeworth said calmly and as gently as he could. That caused Maya to start crying a little. 

Edgeworth himself lost a family member, maybe not as recently as Maya, but he knows the pain of seeing a loved one die right in front of you. Edgeworth lost his dad. Later, he was blamed for the murder of a connection his father had and the pain all came back. Maya was blamed for the murder of her own sister then became Phoenix's assistant. 

Phoenix reached across the table and gently held Maya's hand. Edgeworth panicked a bit to himself cuz he feels like he caused this. 

"So you called us here to talk...?" EDGEWORTH YOU'RE NOT MAKING THIS ANY BETTER. 

"T-talk and..." Breathe, Maya, breathe. "Maybe... Share stories about Mia...?" 

Bad idea, shouldn't have said that, horrible idea, you shouldn't have opened your mouth you stupid-

"Sure. I mean, I don't have many stories about her but if it would be a good outlet for Phoenix and yourself, then I'm all ears," Edgeworth spoke up with a fraction of a fraction of a smile. 

Maya breathed a sigh of relief. It was a shaky breath that she didn't even realize she was holding in. Edgeworth always showed his caring side around Maya. 

"D-do you mind if I start?" Her voice was quivering, reflecting how she felt inside. 

"Of course Maya," Phoenix seemed to be feeling the same way Maya felt, shaky and nervous. 

"W-well, I always remember when we were younger..."

~Flashback to when Maya was 7 years old~

"M-mia...?" A young Maya stood in her older sisters doorway, shaking and crying. 

"Maya? What's wrong sweetie?" Mia looked up from her book, seeing her baby sister in distress. 

"I-i had an-another one..." Maya admitted, a bit ashamed to admit she had her second nightmare that week and it was only Wednesday. 

"Oh honey, come here," Mia set her book down on the desk near her bed and opened her arms to her sister. Maya immediately ran into her sisters embrace, allowing herself to cry. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"T-there was a man and I was in a room with him, then-then suddenly, I shot him and he was dead! A-and then, I stabbed h-him with a knife and there was blood and-and-" Maya kept hiccupping and sobbing between her sentences, making it a bit hard to understand her, but Mia got the gist of it. 

"So you had a nightmare about killing someone...?" 

"Y-yeah..." The first time Maya had talked to Mia about her nightmares, it was a dream that Maya had killed her! That definitely had put Mia on edge a bit but she knew that Maya could never do something like murder, especially against her sister. 

"Maya, honey, it was just a bad dream. Believe me. I know you would never do anything like that. I believe in you," Mia said, gently rubbing Maya's back as she did her best to comfort her baby sister. Maya nodded after a little bit. 

"Let's go lie down, okay Maya? I'll help you get back to sleep," Mia picked Maya up with a bit of trouble and brought her to her bed. She set Maya down and wrapped her in blankets. She quickly left the room to get her sister a glass of water to help her calm down. When Mia came back, she made sure Maya drank all of the water before grabbing Maya's favorite book. 

"Do you remember where we left off, Maya-bear?" 

"T-the princess just saved the prince from the evil wizard," Maya said, having relaxed significantly. 

"That's right." Mia picked the bookmark out of the book and started reading to Maya. She kept reading until she heard small snores from Maya, indicating that she had fallen asleep. Mia chuckled and set the bookmark back in the book before setting it back on the desk. Mia then settled herself in bed next to Maya, gently rubbing her sisters back and humming a familiar tune until she fell asleep too. 

~Back to present day~

Maya was full on sobbing now. Phoenix was a bit nervous so he tentatively put his hand on her back to comfort her. Edgeworth sneakily ordered a glass of water for Maya, a tea for himself, and orange juice for Phoenix from a waitress passing by. 

"Sometimes, when I have a nightmare, I still hope Mia will be there to help read to me," Maya said through tears causing Phoenix to tear up a little himself. Edgeworth looked at Maya as sympathetically as he could which was surprising cuz he usually doesn't express much more than indifference. 

"That kind of reminds me of something Mia and I used to do before I became a lawyer..."

~Back to a few years ago.~

Phoenix had actually managed to drag Mia out of the Fey & Co. Law offices for a few hours to go to an art gallery together. They left Grossberg in charge of the offices in case something went wrong. 

Nick, being an art student, would meticulously critique the paintings under his breath while Mia... Zoned out. Art was never really her thing but for some reason, seeing Nick nerd out about art made her happy. 

This was where Mia wished she had a cup of coffee in her hand that she could gaze into and memorize the latte art. 

"...And this one was made in 1592 and was saved from a mansion that had been set on fire." Nick finished explaining and looked to Mia in approval. "Well?" 

Once he turned to Mia, he saw she was so zoned out it didn't look like she even saw the painting in front of her. He sweat dropped a little. 

"Mia, this is supposed to be a break from work, can you at least pretend to look like you're enjoying it?" Nick nudged Mia gently. 

"Oh I'm enjoying the art, absolutely, mmmhmmm," she tried to sound as convincing as possible. 

"Then who was the last piece by?" Nick quizzed her to see if she truly was paying attention. 

"Uh... Um... Y'know, that is a great question," Mia was bluffing and Nick could tell so he glared at her. "Sorry, I'm just not an art person." 

"Well, you should've told me! We could've gone to get coffee, or seen a movie, or gone to lunch, or had a picnic-"

"Okay sure, but you just sounded so excited and I thought I'd go with you if it would make you happy and seeing how happy this makes you makes me happy." That made Nick go quiet. 

"T-that's very sweet of you, Mia..." 

"And seeing how rarely the art gallery comes to town I thought this would be a great opportunity to further your studies." Maybe Nick was crying now. 

"Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Full on sobbing, Nick threw himself at Mia in a hug. 

"ACK- Nick!" 

"Thaaaaaank youuuuuuuuuuu," he cried into her shoulder as people surrounding them gave the two strange looks. Mia, after a moment of being frozen, wrapped her arms around Nick as well and pat his back. 

"You're welcome, Nick," she laughed, and the sound of her laughter rang out in Nicks ears. 

~Back to present day~

Nick was crying as well. Maya and Phoenix had gone through a handful of napkins each. Even Edgeworth was able to sympathize with the two. The drinks Edgeworth had ordered had made it to the table which the other two were grateful for. Maya causally sipped on her water to help calm down while Phoenix had chugged the entire glass of orange juice. 

Edgeworth was the first one to speak up. 

"Mia was, even in my brief interactions with her, quite determined. She was always determined to get that 'Not Guilty' verdict even when everything seemed hopeless for her case. She was driven. I... May have covertly copied some of her behaviors. Her trust in her client, her utter, complete belief that her client is innocent, that's the sign of a good lawyer. That lesson may not have escaped you after all, Wright." 

That was a compliment from Edgeworth. What is even happening anymore. 

"W-well, that was productive, I think," Nick spoke up. "We reflected on great things about Mia. As much as all of us miss her..."

"What if we made this an annual thing?" Maya said. "L-like we met up around this time of year just to... talk..." She trailed off at the end of her sentence, losing her confidence. 

"I actually wouldn't mind that," Nick said. "It's a nice time of year to meet up, this place is pretty convenient ("And delicious!" Maya pipes in.)"

"That... Well, if I had time, I'd see if I could make it, potentially," Edgeworth said. 

And so the three of them made a tradition: To meet up on the anniversary of Mia's death. 

Little would they know, somewhere Mia is smiling.