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Five Times Apollo Visited Aura in Prison and One Time He Didn’t (1506 words) by thesavagesabretooth
Chapters: 1/6
Apollo and Aura were brought together by a terrible shared loss. While she’s in prison for the crime that brought their killer to justice, they get to know one another on a more personal level.
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December 22, 1:00 pm
Apollo straightened his tie as he waited in front of the detention room window. Usually, when he was here it was to defend a client.
Today, the person he was waiting for didn’t have any defense, and wasn’t his client. He was, on the other hand, kind of her accomplice.
Aura Blackquill was shuffled through the door, her face shadowed by the long curls of her hair as she glared at the guard. He could hear something, a brief exchange.
The guard had told her that the next time she punched the glass, he’d make sure the prosecutor’s office heard about it.
With an inaudible huff, Aura dropped herself into the chair opposite the glass with a broadening grin.
“Well, well. Apollo Justice. Didn’t expect to see you here so soon.”
He smiled bashfully at her, and dragged his fingers through his hair nervously.
“Well, a little bird told me if I waited too long, I’d have to make a longer trip. Besides, I wanted to say hi.”
“The little bird was right. …the state penn’s a bit of a hike, after all.” Aura laughed. She watched him, leaning on her hand, with an almost impish smile on her face. “But color me flattered…and happy. I’ve been hoping to hear from you before they sent me away. You’re holdin’ up alright, yeah?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said, leaning toward her, and the glass. “I guess I’m alright.”
He tugged the collar of Clay’s coat further up over his shoulder.
“Alright as we can be, right?” Her expression turned to a brief grimace before she placed her hand on the glass…to the visible ire of the security guard. “The jacket looks good on you, by the way. Glad to see you’re keeping it.”
He placed his hand on the glass next to hers, as if they were touching for just a moment.
“Thanks, Aura. It’s… comforting to have it, you know? Makes it feel almost like he’s still with me.”
The other day, when Aura had teased Phoenix about Ponco calling him Clay– because of the jacket– he’d almost liked the thought. That maybe he could feel some part of the other man with him still– that maybe other people could see that in him.
He was pretty sure Aura would understand.
Aura ran her fingers through her hair with a nod and a sly smile.
“Oh, believe you me. I get it, Justice.” Her lab was full of mementos and little pieces of Metis Cykes. From the lovingly framed photograph, to the decorations still lingering on the walls…and to the labcoat he’d seen Aura in the first time he’d visited before she had hidden it out of view. “Maybe he is. He was always a stubborn little bastard.”
Apollo smiled a little.
“I know. It was one of the things I always liked about him. Something we had in common I guess.” He put his chin in his hands. “But how are you holding up? I can’t imagine how tough the last few days have been for you, too…”
“Me? Oh…you know how it is. I’m the princess of the penitentiary over here.” Aura drawled, to the amused snort of the guard behind her. “I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been.”
it was obvious sarcasm, even if the twitch of her lips didn’t give it away. But still, she looked into his eyes with a low sigh.
“I got my brother his retrial, I got him declared not guilty, and I figured out I’d burned a bridge with Metis’ only daughter along the way.” Her eye twitched. “…and you found the real killer. Even if no real justice could be done, or at the very least by the hands of the people he’d hurt. And now I’m about to scurry off to jail for a few months!”
“Yeah,” Apollo nodded, his jaw tight. He’d seen the paper that morning. The phantom was dead. “We found the real killer. At least he can’t hurt anybody else, right? If there’s any way I can help while you’re in jail, just ask, okay? I think we’re allowed to bring you presents and stuff, to a certain degree anyway.”
He could see the flicker of something dark in her expression as he spoke about the phantom’s death– and with it, the memory of the weapon laden machines in the Robotics Lab, and Aura’s demand for Athena’s delivery to her.
Now that the real killer had been found…
“Let’s just hope that’s enough to put the lingering essence of Metis to rest then,” she said after a moment, looking down at her lap. Her eyes were lost in the shadow of her curling hair. “And Clay Terran, of course.”
She took a deep breath, before she finally looked back up “You wanna bring me gifts, Justice? My, my I knew you were sweet on me.”
Apollo flushed bright red and held up his hands.
“I mean– uh, well! You helped me so much, it’s only right that um– I–” he tugged at his collar, feeling suddenly very warm.
Aura shifted in her seat, until she leaned on her hands as if she still had Clonco jammed under them, her smile almost catlike as it crawled a little wider.
“Oh but you’ve already been such a great help,” she laughed, and winked at him. “but I think maybe a package or two from you might brighten up my cold, dark cell. Going to write a sappy letter to go with it?”
He choked a little and scrambled to find his words, feeling pinned by her gaze.
“Depends– would the guards be fishing it out of the trash and snickering about it?”
“Mmmm, I dunno. How good’s your poetry?”
“Uh, honestly? Pretty terrible,” he laughed. “The last time I tried to write poetry was when I was 13.”
“Oh now I’m gonna have to insist, Justice…channel your best Yeats and pour some feeling on the page for me!” She slapped her hand on the short desk in an eerie mirror of her brother in court, laughing out loud “Best case scenario, you knock my socks off. Worst? I get a good laugh!”
He tugged at his collar again and then laughed.
“Alright but you’re the one who’s gonna be embarrassed when you read it. You’re gonna be like, who’s this Apollo clown? I never want to see him again.”
“You severely underestimate how much dorky poetry I had to read back in the day, Justice.” She leaned closer to the glass “…you know how many haiku Metis wrote? Hundreds. And back when we first met…they weren’t exactly fantastic.”
Apollo laughed, and leaned on his hands again.
“Are you serious? No, you know what, thinking of her, and how you’ve described her, I can absolutely see it. Do you still have any of it?”
“Kept every single one, Apollo.” She said it with a genuine fondness, despite her teasing grin.
“Back at the lab, in the desk. I got a little laminated binder of them. They got better…the more she did them, at least.”
She pointed to him, her finger pressing against the glass “…so if you write me little poems and drop me gifts through the prison bars, maybe you’ll get halfway decent one day.” With a snicker, she added “…and maybe I’ll laminate yours too. For a good laugh a few years from now, maybe.”
He chuckled, embarrassed again.
“And here I was about to suggest publishing Metis’ old stuff– if you thought she’d appreciate it.”
Changing the subject? Gosh no! He wasn’t changing the subject!
“Maybe I should…” She mused, rubbing her chin…she didn’t exactly have Clonco to push around in the detention center, so she seemed to be keeping her hands occupied.
“I think she’d have been happy to be remembered, honestly…if someone sends me that binder I can start working on the layout and design…but~.” she turned her dark eyes towards him with a low laugh “…that’s one thing, and this is another.”
He flushed, feeling scrutinized by her again,
“Yeah? haha… what do you mean by that exactly?”
“Well…” She twirled a deep black-purple strand of hair around her fingers with a low hum “…are you going to give me gifts while I’m in the clink or not, Apollo? It’d certainly keep me entertained and…perhaps…out of trouble.”
He smoothed his hair back again. “I thought we already settled that! Of course I am– I wouldn’t suggest it and then back out, that would be rude! Uh, mean even.”
“With little poems?” She added with a smug edge to her grin, resting her chin against the back of her hand.
He put his head in his hands and nodded. “I mean at this point you’ll think I’m a liar if I don’t so… you’re definitely getting your poems.”
“Good boy,” Aura purred. “looks like now I’ll actually have something to look forward to in the clink.”
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