And I've complained.

[miniworth]

Who: miniworth and usedrage
Where: Goldenrod City Pokémon Center
When: January 24th, 7PM
Summary: Miles wakes up, there is not enough drama, and he'll probably have Ken anger-facing about Miles' sister.
Rating: ...PG-13? 

Miles began to stir around seven o'clock that evening. The signs were subtle at first: a slight frown that steadily deepened, a twitching of his fingers. But he was definitely stirring, signs of life that had been absent for the past nine days.

His dreams, like every dream he'd had for the last many months, were not of the pleasant kind. He looked around, light gray eyes scanning the dark room he sat in. There was a large window across from him, ghostly moonlight seeping into the room and illuminating everything in a hazy, cold light. A bed much too large for his small body, an armchair with a cushion so soft that he sank into it when he sat down, an elegant desk where sat his thick textbooks, a quill pen resting elegantly there. The signs of wealth - the physical evidence of the luxury in which he was placed now - was everywhere. This was his world. This was in his room in the von Karma household, in Germany, where he'd been living for the last nine months.

And how pointless those nine months had been. 

He raised a trembling, cold hand to his throat, remembering what had happened just a few minutes before. 

It felt... fine. As if it hadn't completely clamped up on him and nearly suffocated him earlier. Taking a deep breath, Miles licked his dry lips, whispering to himself: "Manfred von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth."

Nothing happened. The words came out fine, and Miles repeated himself, his ability to do so assuring him that he was alone, and nobody was close enough to hear him - to hear the truth. He chanted that phrase several more times, his voice growing steadily shakier until he cracked down into a torn sort of laugh, his head falling down onto drawn up knees. 

Miles' hand twitched more, his fingers curling into a loose fist.

So this was it.

He was going to remember everything he knew, and he would not be able to do a thing about it. Every time he opened his mouth to utter a single sound about what he knew, his throat would lock up, and he would not be able to speak - or breathe - until he gave up and staggered back to his room, where he would be alone. He had tried to contact his mother, his father's old assistant, but the phones would not connect, the marmy voice of the machine the only greeting he ever received.

What was it that Merlin had said?

...the future doesn't work like that. Don't ever, ever think it was your fault because you couldn't change it. When you mess around with that sort of thing, it never turns out the way you believe it will.

.....How right he had been.

Miles' laughter died away, and he let his body slide, sideways, across the wall until he  was lying on his side on the floor, staring at a patch of moonlight on his carpet. The burgundy color of the carpet reminded him of Merlin's neckerchief, the color of Mitsuru Kirijo's hair, the armband Ken Amada wore around his arm occasionally. The last time he saw them was months ago, and he wondered how they were doing now...

He missed them. 

The boy's frown deepened even more, the fist tightening.

It was strange to feel homesick for a world he didn't even belong in. 

He closed his eyes against the hot stinging in the corners of his eyes, the anger burning in his stomach as he recalled both the faces of his smiling friends back in Johto, and the sneering figure of Manfred von Karma as he spoke of Miles' father. 

Never forgive criminals, Miles Edgeworth. Become a prosecutor, and find revenge.

The image of the legendary prosecutor raising a gun made Miles snap open his eyes.

He was, first, blinded by the white light that burned into his retinas, a brightness that pushed any shadow of Manfred von Karma to the back of his mind as Miles raised his arm to cover his eyes. The limb felt oddly heavy, and he soon dropped it, opting instead to squint at the room he suddenly found himself in --

Why was it so bright?

As his eyesight adjusted, he was able to make out what looked like a tiled ceiling, a white fluorescent light beaming down on him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he realized that he was lying on a bed with white sheets.... in fact, the whole room seemed to be basked in this color. 

"Where am I...?"

He tilted his head - it felt heavy as well - to the side to get a better look at his surroundings, and his gaze fell on a figure, a very familiar person, dozing off in a spinning chair by the bed. Brown hair not as spiky as Miles remembered, as tired-looking as he ever was, the usual orange sweatshirt and black jacket. Miles would recognize Ken Amada anywhere.

It dawned on him, then, that he, Miles Edgeworth, had returned to Johto.

Comments

[miniworth]

He lets Ken push him, settling back to sit on the bed. He nods at Ken's request.

"I won't go anywhere."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"I'll be right back." And he leaves, giving Miles a look over his shoulder as he opens the door.

[miniworth]

Miles draws his legs up on the bed, crossing them and returning Ken's look with a - slightly faked - grin.

"I promise."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

Ken returns his own fake grin, as he disappears past the door fram.e. "I know."

[miniworth]

And while he waits for Ken, Miles tosses himself back so that he's lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

His mind was running a marathon on steroids. The nine months in Germany, the prosecutor that offered to let him be a apprentice, accepting that offer, finding out that he physically couldn't speak a word about anything he knew, his younger sister, who was now here, older. With a riding crop.

".....How long will it take you to get here, Mr. von Karma?"

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

Ken's back in a few minutes, followed by a nurse with food. He stands in the corner, deliberately sinking into the shadows as the nurser fusses over his friend.

[miniworth]

Being fussed over by the nurse leaves Miles looking rather grumpy, and he lets out a tired sigh as she leaves, balancing the tray of food on his lap. During the nurse's stay, Pip had woken up, and he was now perched next to Miles, tiny tail wagging excitedly as Miles hands him some food.

Miles' gaze moves away from his Pokémon and to Ken, in his corner.

"What's wrong?

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head, not moving from the corner. "I didn't want to get in the way."

He can't exactly explain the lingering feeling of unease that Franziska had been right, and that maybe now that he'd returned home, Miles would no longer want him as a friend. Ken's survived alone for two and a half years. Thinking of being alone again shouldn't hurt as much as it... does. It's an unbearable feeling that he can't get rid of, despite trying to swallow it.

"You should eat."

[miniworth]

"..... Look."

He pushes the tray to the side, Pip hopping back and scrambling onto Miles' lap as the trainer crosses his legs again, fixing Ken with a look.

"I don't know what Franziska von Karma said to you - knowing her father, I should be able to bet my life that it couldn't have been anything near polite. I'll message her tomorrow to speak with her, but first - what, exactly, did she say to you?"

What did she say to you about me?

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"I told you. She called you a coward and kept trying to get me to wake you up. It wasn't anything important." Ken shrugs as he returns to sit in the spinny chair.

"You need to eat something."

[miniworth]

"....You're not the kind of person who'd make such a face if it wasn't important." He wasn't going to touch the food. Not yet.

Miles tries to look at Ken without showing the hurt. "Right now, it doesn't look like you trust me so much."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"Do you know how worried I've been?!" He tries to avert Miles' attention. "You've been asleep nine days...

"I don't want you to fall asleep again."

[miniworth]

"Of course I know, and you know I do." For Miles it was nine months ago, but he still remembers the week he spent, watching a sleeping Ken. He looks away from Ken running a hand through his hair. "I'm not going back anytime soon."

He had to speak to Franziska, to find out what she said.

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

Ken sighs, deeply, choosing his words carefully. "You just woke up again. You don't have to worry about me."

He leans back in the chair as Rom crawls back onto his lap, snuggling into his trainer.

[miniworth]

A long pause.

"...I was in Germany for nine months." He picks up the tray again, Pip nudging his food and yanking some of it for himself as Miles slowly eats as well.

He points his.. fork, at Ken, the pose taking away from his serious face. "Nine months won't change that you're still my best friend. I'll worry about you whenever I feel I have to."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

A silences passes. Rather than ask the obvious or admit his own worries, Ken tries to make small talk.

"... What's Germany like?"

[miniworth]

"Mu."

He draws the fork back, stabbing down on a piece of vegetable - a pepper - and shoving it in his mouth. He chews, looking like he's contemplating what to say.

"I didn't spend much time outside.. Mr. von Karma made sure I studied a lot, and otherwise I was babysitting my sister."

He pauses.

"It was very pretty, though. Kind of like here.."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

Ken looks a bit disgusted. The point of being a kid was to go outside. You needed to be outside for good health. "Then you should spend a lot of time outside, here."

[miniworth]

Whenever he had the chance, Miles and little Fran would go out into the back garden to play. Of course, Miles read books more than he actually played, but the sun felt nice there, even if he couldn't go out there too often..

He nods at Ken's words, a small grin on his face.

"Of course I will."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"Have you ever played soccer before?" So long as the conversation doesn't pry into his feelings anymore, the kid's happy. He wants to keep it on Miles and off of him for as long as he can.

[miniworth]

"It's been over a year since the last time, back at school in Los Angeles."

A beat.

Had it really been?

The thought makes him all silent, dashing back down memory lane until he comes to the conclusion that, yes, it had been a year now. For him, at least.

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"When you're stronger, we should play." Ken really, really likes soccer, but again, he's more concerned about keeping Miles healthy.

[miniworth]

The offer rewards Ken with probably the truest smile Miles has shown all night - or possibly in the nine months that he'd just lived through.

"I can't promise much other than that I'll be terrible at it, but if that's all right with you."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty good at it. I can give you some tips." Ken grins back. Awesome, the conversation is light-hearted once more. And somehow, it calms Ken down.

[miniworth]

"I'll be looking forward to it, Coach Amada." And Miles sets aside his tray, leaving Pip to eat the rest of his food.

"I'm afraid the only thing I'm really good at is chess."