First of all, as it's already an AU (duh) I present you some ideas of mine what role Dahlia has in the "real" world. Consider them as "maybes". There are three, none of them is set in stone, you may take any or none. My detective writer feeling is tingling. 1) There never was Iris or Dahlia as separate people, there was one girl with split personality disorder because of abuse in the early childhood. One side is sweet, kind and a little bit child-like, Iris, and the second is a "protector" and a murderer, Dahlia. As Dahlia appears when the person believes they need to survive and get resources by any means then the murders also happen. But young Nick didn't know that until Dahlia decided that he is not useful anymore. And Iris side of personality can't tell anything against it 2) There never was Iris. Dahlia was just smarter and stayed in a relationship with aspiring lawyer whom she could use in her future killings. As she hasn't broke up with him in college he didn't outgrow his puppy love, so she used his naivity and blind love at max. Even married him as it was convinient and gave birth to their child so there wouldn't be any space left for doubt and thoughts of leaving in the head of such decent man like Phoenix. Of course she never loved him. But one time Dahlia made a mistake and left some evidences. Nick went through ice and fire to save her, even forged the counter-evidence, but it wasn't enough and he got caught too, so he was disbarred. But Dahlia tried to run away from police. She could be put in death penalty through hanging or she hanged herself in pure spite for the world. Nick is destroyed emotionally and morally. 3) And still my personal favorite headcanon: events stay close to the AA3, but Nicky and Iris weren't careful enough and Iris got pregnant. She hide in the monastery to give birth for a little girl named Trucy. Then Iris finally meet Phoenix and introduce him to his biological daughter (probably before going to jail). And since AA3 Phoenix is raising his own daughter without the bullcrap of story we got in a AA4. So, what about this chapter? This scene (for which I made lots of sketches actually but they are in my sketchbook and I should scan and compile them into a post) was the most challenging in terms of creating it as there were several main ideas for it. Most importantly there was no Dahlia. While Edgeworth was on edge (heh) of his hellworld with monster hands and acidic presence of his "caretaker", it took me a while to think of the main visual theme for Nick. I thought about stalking eyes quite early down the line, because as a highly anxious person I know the feeling of your weaknesses being observed by people you feel unsafe around. Those eyes could be judging or they could be eyes of a predator waiting to strike. Then I connected the theme of drowning with alchoholism. It was somewhere in 2023 while I was listening the Blacktop Mojo's song "Watch me drown". It made me sure about the theme of drowning while being observed by someone's cynical eyes.

Next I thought about location and what part of Nick's personality I should dissect. At first it was about Nick's shame and inferiority complex next to Edgeworth. It was supposed to be set in some gigantic dam location with Nick falling and drowning. Then it was a nightmare about Phoenix's fear and anxiety about being a single unemployed father, struggling, walking his way with sick Trucy on his hands through the snowstorm on a cracking frozen lake and also falling and drowning, leaving Trucy alone on the ice. It evolved into a claustrophobic horror of drowning in a closed suffocating place also with Trucy in his hands. But then I was walking, listening to some metal music and the song of Reward for a dead man's band "Red Dahlia 2" struck me. All of this can be shown through Dahlia.

I've started the whole mental journey how I should portray her: there was all sorts of monster Dahlia, both undead and insect like, automaton Dahlia, but none of them was on point. And I realised that the more realistic her actions would be as a domestic abuse and a murder attempt the better. With a pinch of horror at the end and with remnants of previous ideas concerning Trucy (they turned into its own flashback for next chapter). Edgeworth's nightmare is about a monster who devoured and destroyed a child's innocence. Phoenix's nightmare is about seeing your beloved turning into monster who tried to killed you and blamed you for that. And finally: