madimpossibledreamer

Main Points:
Ace Attorney AU
Rating: G?
Word Count: 1,101
Summary, other main points under the cut
Reminder: 'spoilers' refers to where I'm going with my story, not canon spoilers

Summary: Of course his day just had to include a blizzard.
Very light Apollo/Klavier referenced this chapter
“Why is it blizzarding in the middle of California!?” he screams at the wind. It’s not really going to do too much, but it makes him feel a little better, which is something. He can’t see the buildings. He doesn’t know if he’s wandered out of the city entirely. Klavier’s probably somewhere battling the one responsible for this, but he doesn’t know whether his boyfriend will be in time to save him from a popsicle fate.

He can’t feel his toes. Or hands. He’s bundled up a little more, sure, because he found a shirt he’d mistakenly left at the house and even though it was a little dirty and smelly, he figured it was better than freezing, right? It’s not like the day could suck any more than it already is, and he’s resigned to just putting up with it. He can change into some nice new pajamas tonight, relax, but in the meantime it was just another thing, right?

It’s not enough. It’s not nearly enough.

He trips over something and goes sprawling into a drift of snow. The snow on his skin doesn’t hurt. It feels a little pleasantly warm, which he remembers is a danger sign. He really, really needs to get to shelter soon, before he starts thinking he’s warm or getting angry at people trying to get him to take shelter or something. Not that he can do that. He’s alone.

Or maybe not. “Watch where you’re going!” It’s a child’s voice. Just great. Him, he can understand, because he’s really stubborn, but what’s a kid doing out here?

“Like I can do that in the middle of this,” he answers back, a little louder than he intends. He frowns and lowers his voice. “You don’t happen to remember around where we are, do you?”

“Worlds are colliding,” the kid answers in the most epic voice. He’s being mocked. It’s pretty easy to tell, considering what sort of brat he’d been as a kid.

“I meant, in the city. Where the nearest shelter is. I don’t plan on letting someone with puns that stupid kill me.” At the look questioning his sanity, he elaborates, “Mr. Freeze.”

He gets the hint of a smile before the boy quickly wipes it off his face. “Nope, sorry. Wasn’t watching where I was going.”

It’s like meeting a younger version of himself, back when he was younger and stupid and had a worse attitude. Before he’d seen his first Phoenix Wright trial. “Well, okay, let’s get going. If we can’t find something soon, we’ll need to dig a snow cave.”

The kid he can barely see rolls his eyes. “That’s a great plan.”

“If you have anything better, I’d love to hear it.” It’s harder to read someone when you can barely see them, but his talent is hinting that the child is a lot more scared than he’s letting on.

Like he needed his power for that.

They trudge through the snow that seems to be getting taller every second. It can’t, really, not to a level they can see, but it feels almost like it’s alive, like it’s trying to swallow them whole.

He walks into the vehicle before he sees it. He can’t make out much, but he can tell it’s fairly old, not the newest model of anything, which is good. He grabs for the kid, who surprisingly actually is following, and pauses for just a moment. On one hand, there’s the law, but he’ll pay for anything, whatever. He’s more concerned about surviving at the moment. It’s a bad habit he retained, but he still has a paper clip in his wallet.

He’s a bit out of practice, and practically has to position his ear right next to the lock, but eventually he unlocks the car and practically throws the kid into the passenger side and climbs in himself. The boy is watching in a mixture of awe and wariness. “You’re not kidnapping me, right?” he asks finally.

Apollo rolls his eyes. “Yeah. That’d go well.” This whole encounter is bringing out his worst sarcasm. “Look for something to keep us warm, all right? I’m going to call the police and let them know we’re stranded.”

“I found the keys!” the kid exclaimed eventually, looking like he’d start bouncing if it wasn’t completely undignified.

The attorney nods. He’s still waiting for his call to go through. Of course, in the middle of a freak blizzard, it makes sense that the police lines would be really busy, but still…

The boy starts up the car and the heating. It whines as it whirs to life, and the air’s barely warm, but it’s a huge improvement over everything previously. Apollo’s body finally warms up enough to realize that shivering to keep warm is a good idea.

He hangs up and calls Emma. “That fop’s heating went out, didn’t it? I’m sorry, but there are people who actually need help. You’re just going to have to snuggle and use a lot of blank—”

“I’m not at Klavi’s. I’m in a car that’s not mine with a kid I managed to find in the blizzard, and I’ll probably have to get breaking and entering charges for that, but I’d happily pay for not dying out there and I’d really like to be somewhere warm. The kid too.” All business, but he’s not going to let her just hang up.

He can hear her stop and think. “S-sorry.” She sounds a little shaken. “I’ll come pick you up, okay? I’ve got a car that runs on science.”

He hasn’t spoken to Emma much since the change. She’s been busier. Maybe she actually passed her test or something and was in forensics. But when she says her car can make it, he believes her. “Hurry.”

He glances at the kid when he hangs up, sees the bruises, the unguarded fear, the shivering. “You’re not just a punk, you know. Even if that’s all anyone thinks you’ll become. You owe it to them to drive their expectations into the dust and become something they’ll never think you could be.”

“What are you?” It’s meant to be sneering; it comes out as genuinely curious.

“I’m a lawyer. I protect the innocent, or try to anyway, and I find the truth.” He sighs and thinks over his life. “And this, unfortunately, is the kind of day that happens more than I’d like.”

“That’s lame,” the kid says. It’s not what he’s thinking, which is a start. The start of something new, maybe, if the boy wants to take that step. If not…well, he’s done all he can.