An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
hello happy ONE YEAR anniversary to publishing this fic. i could not have imagined how well this fic would be received when i started writing it. <3 thank you for reading
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“There is truly no way for Earth to express its appreciation for everything you’ve done, Dr. Grace, but I hope this helps.” Grace glanced down.
And did a doubletake.
It was a check. With a lot of zeros.
Now, he didn’t know much about the economy—heck, he couldn’t have spoken intelligently about it even when he was in time with the rest of the world, but six hundred million dollars still seemed like a gosh-darned lot of money!
“We’ve decided to present you with a little bit of backpay,” he said with a wink. There was a smattering of chuckles. He clapped his hand on Grace’s shoulder, who stood flabbergasted at the number.
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Ace attorney's 7 year gap and the fallout afterwards is just endless alternate universes of possibility for me and I have an elaborate web of ideas I would like to write about or comic about butttttttt I CAN'T CHOOSE ONE. So here's the cliff notes:
I have one idea where Nick and Miles have a horrible blow out fight before the disbarment over Nick's affection being relentless and Miles refusing to speak openly and getting upset if Nick doesn't jump through hoops to understand him, and Miles lashes out by moving away again and Nick gets back at him by purposefully icing him out for a few years. And another slightly contradictory one where Miles is the first one he calls after the disbarment and Miles stays up crazy late German time to help him get all the paperwork to adopt Trucy, but where Phoenix realizes Miles is only reliably there in a crisis and that he's gonna have to let the idea of Miles go while he focuses on raising his daughter. Then one where Phoenix and Maya lean really heavily on each other for raising Pearl and Trucy and they have the most non normative family structure but the kids are very loved at the end of the day and Nick and Maya are like the ultimate brother/sister duo who hold things together in their own weirdo way. And one where Phoenix doesn't tell Trucy about Miles for two full years until suddenly he springs a trip to Europe on her and they travel to see him and Trucy has a bad dream her first night there and Miles finds her and very awkwardly tries to take care of her the way he wished someone had taken care of him when he had bad dreams as a child. Also fun one from Apollo's perspective where Miles comes to town and he gets invited to family dinner with the Wrights and Miles and the whole time is like "what the heck what the heck what the heck they're soooo weird around each other is this allowed". Dramatic interlude where Miles really awkwardly tries to do what he feels is expected in a romantic relationship and Nick is like woah you're clearly not into this like just stop it's fine and Miles is like IT'S NOT FINE it's not fair I want to keep you in my life actively I just don't know how if we don't do it this way and so I'll just put up with it because it's worth it. And Nick is like I don't want to be something you put up with and miscommunication miscommunication neither of them have yet come to understand how a relationship is something you get to define together, I love drama. And then they're kinda separate for awhile again and Trucy goes to stay with Miles during a summer break junior year for a study abroad performance program, and he's unexpectedly really cool about a lot of things like the drinking age in Europe, and then they get sucked into a murder case and Trucy gets to be his weird little girl sidekick. And she's like "wow you're sort of bluffing like Daddy does" and he's like "if you tell him this I will tattle on you for going to clubs with your friends" and she's like "then I'll tell him you let me go to clubs with my friends" and he's like CRAP check mated by a 17 year old. But this gets Nick and Miles to talk again. And then one where Trucy comes back for fall break during her first semester of college and she immediately clocks a strange pair of shoes by the door and a few new additions to the kitchen and she can tell someone else has been staying there and she's like "DID YOU RENT MY ROOM OUT WHILE I WAS GONE?" and Nick is like "No, those are Mr. Edgeworth's things" and then she's like "DID YOU RENT MY ROOM OUT TO /MR. EDGEWORTH/ WHILE I WAS GONE?" and he's like "Well... he's not staying in YOUR room..." and Trucy has a mini breakdown over this because it feels like things are changing very fast and she just wants her dad to be the same, meanwhile Miles thinks she is upset because she's homophobic and is like oh my god..... my queerness tore this family apart.... but then they talk it through and she remembers she likes him and it's mostly fine. Even though she thinks late 30s is too old for people to be dating.
But also that all changes on a whim so I guess I'll compromise by making NONE OF IT yayyyyyyyy
"#sighs wearily i need to write an au fic abt that like everyone else on earth has" don't make me pull out the holy shit two cakes image 😭 please write this, I want to see it as written by You 🙏
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! i love a good willsker themed birkin lives au... i think its such an interesting situation to ponder, & i looove to put them in a situation. especially weird, miserable, pseudo-domestic ones.
i offer u a draft and some musings...
(adjusted so i could clip it nicely but! if i finish it im hoping to have pieces of the past intermingled with the present. so thats what the cut/jump is lol)
i think my favourite part of willsker is always how entangled they are and how far back their history goes... but also. how suddenly they broke apart and how different they became.
i mean, we r talking abt two guys attached at the hip since their teens suddenly severed—wesker splits for stars and makes friends (read: interacts with people outside of umbrella and birkin) while birkin traps himself in his lab, slowly succumbing to extreme paranoia. & then—as per the classic au—theyre suddenly thrust back together. Different. what do they even do
if all goes well and i actually finish this ! hopefully theyll. i dunno. fake their deaths. go on the run. be trapped in a weird limbo between the past and the present, knowing everything about each other but still fumbling for familiarity...
can u write,, sonilver ship or duo doesn’t matter i just love your characterization of silver and how u write him
oughhhh I LOVE sonilver…. this is a bit philosophical and vague, but I hope you still like it (on ao3 as well!)
Silver picks another apple from the tree Sonic had settled in, frowning when he found the other side of it to be rotten. He tossed it to the ground and searched for a new one, red and crisp and so juicy it spills down your chin when you bite into it. He can feel his mouth watering at the thought of all the apples he’ll be bringing home tonight, his earlier use of psychokinesis filling the baskets at the bottom of the tree.
Of course, Sonic had immediately admonished him, telling him he sucked all the fun out of the affair by going the easy route. Understanding that he was being challenged, Silver abandoned his psychokinesis to pick each apple by hand. He despised that Sonic was right; it was more sweat than he liked, but it was far more rewarding to find a good apple this way than by picking them all at once.
Silver plucked another apple, pleased to find it without rot or potential worms. That had been a lesson Silver never forgot, eagerly biting into an apple only to spit out a worm that had settled near the core. Sonic had laughed, something hearty and startled, not like his usual mischievous chuckle, and Silver had felt warm at the sound despite the distaste in his mouth.
Silver had traveled to the past once again, unable to resist the allure of an under-industrialized society… and perhaps, because a good friend lived in this time as well. If he happened to cross paths with Sonic, right when autumn has settled across South Island, and the apple trees were ripe with red fruits to be harvested… what a strange coincidence it all was, that there was an orchard advertising for people to come and pick what they could, the scraps left over from the farmer’s initial harvest.
Sonic had been content to sit in the tree while Silver worked, munching on a few apples he could easily reach, or catching the ones Silver would throw at him when he complained about how lazy he was. Silver sat in a tree branch above him, watching the autumn noon light slip through the shade of the trees they had climbed, making Sonic’s fur shimmer as Sonic remained still, eyes closed, hands behind his head, soaking in the sweet sunlight like the plant he was settled across.
It was peace, earnest and true, and Silver couldn’t stop himself from staring, watching Sonic be so still. It was sometimes hard to reconcile that such a daredevil loved to stop and smell the roses (in this case, the scant few apple blossoms left over), who lazily napped during the day when he wasn’t running amok across continents in search of danger. Sonic’s odd, sometimes dissonant nature had annoyed Silver greatly when he first met him, finding him at best an unpleasant juxtaposition of strange traits, and at worst a massive hypocrite.
Now, Silver was content to sit above him and watch a quiet moment he had stolen, selfish as he always was to be present for things he had no right to. It was a conflict Silver always lost, dreaming of pasts that weren’t his, of friends that didn’t belong to him, of wants and desires that couldn’t be. But the future sting, despite being just as sunny and blue skyed as the day he was currently in, filled with orchards just ad sweet and ripe as this one, filled with blissful autumn days, but missing such a key component to Silver’s happiness.
Silver had never thought of himself as selfish before, until he met him.
“Don’t you ever wonder what the future is like?” Silver asked, breaking the serene silence. Just like Silver always does, disrupting a past he didn’t belong to, a moment that wasn’t his.
Sonic never seemed to mind. “Not at all.”
“Not even a little?”
“Not even a little. I really hate spoilers!”
“You never really ask about it.” Silver closes his eyes. “Tails obviously does. Even Knuckles wonders about the state of Angel Island. But it’s not just that- everyone always eventually asks what happens to them. Does any of Tails’s theories come true? Does Knuckles revitalize the Echidna culture? Does Rouge become a world famous thief?”
A sweet autumn breeze ruffles the leaves. Out past the horizon, where the apple trees fade into birches, a forest is filled with gold. The leaves have already changed, and soon will turn brown, brittle, and fall.
“You never ask,” Silver notes. “Don’t you wonder?”
“Nope.” Sonic’s eyes are still closed. “I don’t really care. I like the present quite a lot. And I know that whatever happens, I chose it to happen. I don’t live a life of regrets, so I don’t mind not knowing what happens. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Silver watches the ants climbing the bark of the tree. Despite himself and the sudden melancholy he’s feeling, he can’t help the half snort, half scoffing sound he makes in the face of Sonic’s blasé opinion. “That sounds like something you’d say.”
“What can I say? I like a good surprise.”
Silver glances back down at Sonic, studying him. He tells himself this is the last time he’ll travel to the past, the last time he’ll abuse the power of the time stones to watch sand slip from his fingers. Silver’s future is saved, a brilliant world full of beautiful people and places that belong to Silver now. Yet still he’s here, in the past, chasing something he knows he can’t have. This world, centuries ago, long before he’s even a concept, isn’t his. And his fate, however it intertwined with his, is meant to eventually part.
Still, Silver grasps it with both hands.
“You never ask what I’m doing in the past, either,” Silver adds.
“I figure you know what you’re doing.”
“Don’t you wonder?”
“Not at all.” Sonic’s voice is blithe. “Sure, I don’t really think picking apples is gonna save the future, but I don’t really care either way.”
“What if I’m just abusing this power that was given to me? What if I’m just here for fun? What if the future is already saved?” Because if the future isn’t saved, why else would Silver be in the past? Why else wouldn’t he be in the world he belongs to? He doesn’t know why he’s asking these things. Sonic isn’t the arbiter of his absolution.
Maybe, though, he is.
Sonic snorts. “Don’t you know? I do the same with the Chaos emeralds.”
Silvers eyes are wide. “Really?”
“I used to transform with them all the time. Flying around, chasing after the Tornado… There’s no shame in making the most out of what you’re given.” Sonic tilts his head. “But I’m guessing, you want me to ask you why you are in the past? So tell me, what are you doing here? Right here, right now?”
Blue as the sky Silver had fought so long to see. Green as the grass Silver fought so hard to keep.
“I live two hundred years in the future,” Silver says. “But there’s someone here that I… miss. Someone who can’t see the future I dream of.”
(Someone who will never live to see it.)
“They don’t live a very long life,” Silver confesses. “There isn’t much time.”
“There’s always time.”
“Not for him.”
Silver’s voice is sharp. Crisp, like the first bite into an apple. This fruit is rotten, however. Down to its core.
“Even if I stayed in the past forever,” Silver continued. “Even if I gave up the future I’m fighting for, he won’t be around for much longer.”
“And you won’t change his fate?”
“I can’t.”
“Hm.” Sonic scratches his chin. “I guess you’re lucky, then, that fate doesn’t exist.”
Silver closes his eyes. Doesn’t it? Then again, the future’s fate is changed because of him.
“You don’t have much time with him,” Sonic continues. “Even if you could give up everything, it wouldn’t matter. Sounds like you’ve already given up. How tragic.” Sonic snorts. “How stupid.”
Silver bristles, standing on the branch he was resting on. “What?!”
“You’re giving up before you’ve even started,” Sonic mildly says. “And I thought you were supposed to be tenacious. What happened to the Silver I know, who saw the fate of his world and spat in its face? You don’t believe in fate- you can’t, if you’re trying to fix your future. Why give up when you don’t know for certain it’s all doomed?”
“I do know it’s doomed,” Silver insisted. “It would be worthless to do anything, because if I change his fate, it ruined everything he sacrifices himself for.”
Sonic frowns. His eyes are open and their gazes meet. Sonic’s full attention, when he isn’t smiling, when he isn’t joking around, when he isn’t rushing head first into danger, but instead fully aware of his surroundings, the risks, the people he’s near, the daunting task he’s been given… The wind feels strangely cold, as Sonic stares up at him.
“So pessimistic,” Sonic complained. “Fate isn’t real-“ Silver opens his mouth to object, but Sonic doesn’t bat an eye as he talks over him- “But even if it was, who cares?”
Silver frowns. “Who cares?”
“Who cares if it’s doomed?” Sonic raises a hand. “Toss me an apple.”
Silver sends him a side eye that is promptly ignored. Rolling his eyes, Silver uses his psychokinesis to toss him a good apple from his basket, Sonic catching it without even looking. Lazily, Sonic reaches towards an apple near his branch, one where rot has already settled in. He holds up the good apple, making sure Silver can see it.
“Apples,” Sonic begins, “are ripe only for a few weeks. If you miss that window, you miss out on a really good treat.” He takes a loud bite of the apple. Silver wonders if he’s being intentionally obnoxious as he chews long and thoughtfully. “You can eat them, and they last only a few minutes. I bet I could eat this in two seconds, if I down the whole core. But the idea is that apples already arent fit to last beyond their time of harvest. And if you do eat one, they still don’t last. But at least you tasted the sweetness of its flavor, the crispness of its skin, the juice of its fruit.”
Sonic holds up the rotten apple. “If you don’t eat it, the apple still decomposes, rotting away, having never been touched. You won’t have a nice memory to accompany the loss. You’ll just have a rotten apple.”
Sonic tosses the apple onto the ground. He bites into the ripe apple again, munching thoughtfully. “So maybe it’s doomed. An apple will die, no matter if you pick it or not, no matter if you eat it or not. But it’s a terrible waste to let it rot without knowing what it tastes like.”
Silver watches as Sonic continues to eat the apple. It was a perfect apple, a divine shade of red skin, crispy and plump with juice, no doubt a wonderful combination of sweetness and a hint of tart. Sonic finishes, spinning the core on his finger before tossing it away, Silver watching it fall to the ground, settling amongst the mud and grass.
“Do you get it?”
Silver watches Sonic peer up at him. His eyes are vibrant, reflecting the warmth and glimmer of the autumn sun, turned ever summer in his eyes. There’s a drop of juice askance of his mouth, sticky and sweet. His body is relaxed, back to laying against the branch, hands behind his head, legs crossed, but eyes wide open, watching Silver watch him.
“Yeah,” Silver says. “I think I do.”
Sonic smiles. “I figured you weren’t as stupid as your hair.”
Silver squawks. “It’s a common look in the future!”
Sonic shudders. “And you wonder why I never ask about the future. Who wants to know about such a nightmare?”
Silver uses his psychokinesis to pelt Sonic with the remaining apples in the tree. Sonic laughs, even as he falls off the branch, catching himself on the next one, kicking a few apples right back at him. They’re rotten, expired and no longer ripe, failed and forgotten. But there are other apples in other trees that Silver hasn’t climbed yet, waiting for him, willing to be picked.
Sonic jumps from one tree to the next, settling himself on another branch. “Wake me up when you’re willing to hit up the pumpkin patch.”
Nestled in the tree, Sonic closes his eyes, serene as he soaks up the golden light. In the distance, the birch leaves are still glimmering, and in the here and now, there are apples, ripe and crisp and juicy, patiently anticipating his arrival.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
the ao3 curse is why i dont post fics until they are done done
like 100 percent i am happy with this and can just put it in drafts and click post once a day until im done
