"Victory after Victory. It's truly been impressive."

Manfred Von Karma. He'd been my mentor all these years and after my loss, I couldn't even imagine what he had to say.

"Thank you, sir" I kept all my panic inward, waiting for his cold fury to fall upon me.

"That being said, it does make your defeat more vexing."

You're telling me, "I humbly apologize sir"

"Cast your feelings aside. The only justice is conviction."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's almost Christmas. I don't know why everyone gets so worked up over such a small and meaningless holiday. This isn't America. It's just an excuse to get drunk and eat cake and I wanted no part of it. Besides, I had something far more important to take care of. A man by the name of Robert Hammond had requested a meeting with me. I barely remember him, but I know he had something to do with my father's case, the DL-6 incident. He said he wanted to talk to me about that very case. I had no idea why. I was just a child when my father died. I don't even remember what happened.

Nonetheless, I would go. I hated to admit it, but I was very curious about what this Hammond man wanted. The whole thing was a giant red flag, the location, the time, the reasoning. But I had to go. If this man knew anything about what happened to my father, I needed to know too.

It's 11:30. I needed to leave now if I wanted to get there by midnight. I found the meeting spot to be random and strange. When looking at the amount of suspicion this whole situation raised, I couldn't believe how desperate I had become. It had been 15 years. I shouldn't drive in the middle of the night to meet some man on a lake just for the mere promise of information. But if he could disprove all the thoughts in my head, banish the nightmeres that kept me awake at night, the risk will have been worth it.

I pulled on my coat and grabbed my keys. Hammond had requested I meet him at Gourd Lake. Everything about this meeting was ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised if this was someone's idea of a cruel joke. But who the hell would send me on a wild goose chase? Who would even have the knowledge to send me on a hunt like this?

I pulled up to the Lake's entrance and parked my car. It was cold. A gust of wind chilled me to the bone and my anxious feeling grew. I slowly made my way through the woods to a boat rental shop. There, I spotted Robert Hammond. He stood by a boat and when I approached him, he bowed and I did the same in return. His hand gestured over to a boat.

"I figured it be better to have some privacy", He stepped onto the boat.

This all seemed so wrong. Why couldn't we talk here? There was nobody around. This was plenty private. Would he not disclose information if I refused to get on the boat? My heart was hammering in my chest I didn't know what to do. Again that desperate urge to learn about the death of my father pulled me. Quite literally I suppose because before I knew what was happening, I was standing on the boat. Hammond pushed away from shore. The ride was slow and quiet. It was quite awkward if I was being honest. I couldn't help but feel relief when we were sitting in the middle of the lake.

"So why is it you called me out here so late?" I inquired nervously. I worried my bottom lip, looking down at the wooden bottom of the lake.

My heart jumped into my throat as I saw him reach inside his coat. He whipped out a gun. He shot into the water. Once, twice, and with a dull thud and a splash he was gone. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what had just happened.

In a daze, I notice the gun sitting on the bottom of the boat. My thoughts were a blur as I picked the weapon up.

What had just happened? I was so confused all I could do was row the boat back to shore. It's weird, while I stood there in a state of shock, I couldn't help but notice color everywhere. It was really foggy but I could still notice the brown of the trees, blue of the lake, the yellow roof of the boot rental shack. I stood there until I heard the police sirens. Somebody had seen that? Did someone call the cops? Would I be arrested? Charged?

"Edgeworth?"

I looked up to see detective Gumshoe

"Did you call the cops?"

I merely shook my head and watched his face melt from worry to fear. The lake was searched, the weapon was found and I was arrested. I couldn't be surprised. It was set up so perfectly not even I could understand it.

Phoenix could figure it out. Give him a day or two in court and he would have everything perfectly mapped out.

I sighed, Wright could not get involved in this case. I didn't need him knowing what happened all those years ago. It wasn't his business. I didn't care if the press was singing his praises, that man would not defend me. He needed to stay as far away from me and this case as possible.

(A/N)

Sorry for a shorter chapter. (Edit: it has been edited and is now as long as chapter 2) I have a nice plan set in place for this fanfic but I need to get over this hump that really conforms to the main storyline of the anime. I should only need one more chapter before things get interesting and romantic. I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far.

(Also, please reread the story description because I'm going to be adding trigger warnings there.)