Edgeworth wrapped his scarf a little tighter around his neck. He wasn’t used to this cold New York City weather at all, and silently cursed his old friend for running off the other side of the country. The streets were busy as they always were in the city, and he had to weave in and out of foot traffic, passing by street vendors and people trying to shove pamphlets into his hands as he walked by.

He turned off the main road onto a smaller one and the throngs of people thinned out quite a bit. He had the route to the little bar memorized by now. It was smack dab in the middle of the city, but every time Edgeworth visited, it was decidedly not busy. It was a quiet place, which made it easy to talk, and he never had to worry about someone overhearing who shouldn’t.

Eventually he turned up at the bar and stepped inside. It was dimly lit and a little dingy, but it was warm and he could hear faint Christmas music playing over the radio. He took a seat at the bar and ordered two drinks. The bartender raised an eyebrow.

“I’m waiting for someone,” Edgeworth told him. The bartender nodded and left him alone to sip at his drink.

He never knew how long Phoenix would be. This was simply a tradition now; they never made plans or spoke before meeting here on the same day every year. He never truly knew whether or not Phoenix would even show up, and Edgeworth no longer had any way to contact him. Phoenix always refused to tell him where exactly he was staying, and wouldn’t even give him a phone number.

He sat there for close to an hour, nursing his drink, before the door opened again. Edgeworth didn’t turn to see who it was, but a few seconds later a man was taking a seat on the barstool beside him.

Edgeworth did turn his head then, and sure enough Phoenix Wright was reaching for the now warm drink still sitting on the bar waiting for him. He took a sip before setting it back down, then turned to Edgeworth and smiled.

“It’s good to see you again,” he said.

Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. “Indeed, Wright. How have you been?”

Phoenix couldn’t keep the smile up for long. “Fine, I guess. You?”

“I’ve been well,” he said.

“Still Chief Prosecutor?”

“Yes.”

Phoenix nodded. Edgeworth was sure he didn’t know what to say. They weren’t as close as they used to be, and nowadays they didn’t have much in common, especially with Phoenix being as secretive as he was. Edgeworth only turned up to these meetings to make sure his friend was still alive, and though Phoenix would never admit it outright, there was one simple reason he always showed up to these meetings, too.

“Just ask me, Wright,” he said. “I know you want to know.”

Phoenix swallowed, keeping his eyes trained on his drink as he swirled the liquid around the glass. “How is she?” he murmured.

“She’s doing relatively well, considering,” Edgeworth said, knowing already who Phoenix was referring to. There was only one woman back in Los Angeles that Phoenix had any interest in knowing the wellbeing of. Maya Fey. Despite the years that had gone by, Maya still spoke to Edgeworth often. In a way, Edgeworth had always felt that with Phoenix’s disappearance, Maya had replaced her best friend with him instead. But he knew he could never live up to Phoenix’s importance in her life.

Phoenix smiled. “Good.”

“She still misses you though,” Edgeworth said. “She still asks about you.“

Phoenix sighed. “She needs to just forget about me. How has she not? It’s been years.”

“I could ask the same of you, Wright. You ask about her every year.”

“It’s… different for me,” he said. “I have blood on my hands that I’ll never be able to wash off. I think about what I did to Adrian every day, which in turn makes me think about Maya every day. But Maya is innocent in all this, she needs to move on with her life.”

“It’s not that different,” Edgeworth said. “Maya might be innocent in this but that’s not how she views it. She knows exactly what you did for her, and she thinks about it just as often as you do, but with the added pain of you being gone. She thinks it’s all her fault. It’s her fault you were forced to accuse an innocent woman of murder, making it her fault that you felt the need to quit your job and run away. She’s tried to move on, Wright, but it’s not that easy. If you would just come back, just to visit her, to talk, I think it would help both of you.”

Phoenix shook his head. “No. I can’t, Edgeworth. She’s better off without me there. I’d only bring her more heartache.”

“At least let me give you her number, in case you ever want to contact her.”

“No,” Phoenix said again. “It’d just be too tempting. Keep it to yourself. And take care of her for me.”

Edgeworth sighed and signalled to the bartender to order two more drinks. There was no point pushing it.

*

The night didn’t last much longer after that, as they didn’t have much to talk about. Edgeworth’s life hadn’t changed much, and Phoenix was too secretive to give much away. They stayed at the bar for another hour or so while they finished their drinks, then finally bid each other goodbye. This time, neither of them indicated that they’d see the other next year, and Edgeworth had to wonder if that was a sign that this would be the last time he’d see his old friend.

After they said their goodbyes and left the bar, they went their opposite ways. Edgeworth had a hotel room booked in the touristy part of town, and Phoenix wandered off down the street, disappearing into the crowds of people.

Once back at the hotel, Edgeworth fished out his phone. It was close to 10pm in New York, so he knew that back in L.A. it was only around 7, and she would be waiting for his call.

He dialled in her number and waited. Maya answered after two rings.

“He said no,” Edgeworth told her. “He won’t come back, and he refused to take your number. He wants you to try and move on from all this.”

There was a deep sigh on the other end. “I can’t… but thank you for trying, Mr. Edgeworth. At least I know he’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, Maya.”

“It’s alright,” she said, but Edgeworth knew it was anything but.

There was a click on the other end, and he realized that she’d hung up. He set his phone down on the nightstand and got up to get ready for bed. He had a flight to catch early in the morning, and he had a feeling he should visit with Maya once he returned to California.