Chapter Text
Phoenix was freezing.
He’d almost been this cold exactly once. It’s not a memory he likes to revisit, but he can call it up too easily. Trying to run across that burning bridge and then falling, falling, falling into bitterly cold, absolutely freezing water.
The water Phoenix was in now was also bitterly cold, but this time that cold had seeped through his skin, through flesh, had become nestled in his bone. Warmth seemed to be a distant memory, an impossible concept. There was nothing but Phoenix, the cold, and the water surrounding him. It’d be so easy to just… stop. He wasn’t currently moving. If he wanted, he could stay like that, drifting, umoving, so still and so very cold.
But no, he couldn’t die, not yet.
He moved his arms and legs. They felt like lead weights, but he couldn’t stay here. He had friends, people who cared about him, who would care if he stayed here in the dark and cold and wet, so he had to move. There was ground beneath him, rocks and mud and algae, and it was the only way he knew up from down. He pushed off of it, upward. He attempted to open his eyes, but the water stung, and the world was far too blurry and dim to see anything.
It felt like he was swimming for months, years, centuries. Time had no meaning. All there was in the world was the water.
At first, when he reached the point where gravity had a hold again, he wanted to withdraw back into the water. Then, the smarter part of him realized that that sudden loss of weightlessness was the shore, was solid ground, was no longer needing to swim, and he dragged and clawed at the dirt, pulling himself forward and out. He shook like a leaf in the wind, legs still submerged, unable to go any further. He curled around himself and then, as if his lungs had only just realized what was going on, started throwing up water, coughing out lungs full of the liquid.
There was a part of him, calm and collected, sitting back and watching where the cards fell in all of this, that noticed just how much water he’d had in his lungs. Lungs that hadn’t burned throughout the entire swim, but had felt just as cold as the rest of him. It was easily enough water to drown someone.
The rest of Phoenix, however, didn’t care, just insistent on being able to breath again.
Breathing was hard, lungs spasming between wanting to cough more and wanting to have air in them again. He felt like his ribs were going to crack and break apart, unable to keep up with the frantic and desperate movements of his lungs.
He was still so cold, and he curled up even further. One hand felt something smooth and familiar and closed around it, bringing the item closer to his center like a lifeline.
Phoenix needed to move. He needed to get up, find help, get dry, do something!.
But he couldn’t.
There was sudden light and if he was capable of making sound, Phoenix would’ve protested against it. As it stood, all he could do was close his eyes tighter.
“F- Uh, M-Ms. Von Karma, I’ve found him! Von Karma! Mr. Wright, sir, can you hear me?! Sir?!”
The voice was so loud. There hadn’t been noise in the water. God, for all the effort Phoenix had made to get out of it, he found himself longing to be back there.
“Ohgodohgoddon’tbedeaddon’tbedead,”
The ground near Phoenix shook slightly and then, at long last, there was warmth.
At first, the heat only came from a pressure on his neck, and then it was gone. He’d forgotten what heat felt like, and he wanted it back immediately. He tried to say something, but he doubled over coughing again.
Apparently it was some use, as he was then wrapped up in the heat, in the warmth. He felt so cold, still soaked. His hand that wasn’t holding onto the smooth object tried to grab at the the warmth and found itself gripping fabric.
“Wright! Wright, you fool! Gumshoe, have you called an ambulance yet?”
“No, not yet ma’am.”
Gumshoe… yes, Phoenix knew a Gumshoe. The deep voice rumbled from what Phoenix was being held against. It was comforting. Gumshoe was safe, and warm, and could be trusted.
Phoenix returned back to the darkness.
oOo
The first time Phoenix woke up, he was completely warm, and it was so perfect, so wonderful, that he fell back to sleep again immediately.
The second time, he had enough energy to open his eyes.
There was something heavy and soft on top of him. He pulled it further around himself and felt the softness of it. A blanket. It took no more than a glance to his side, to the machine that let out beeps perfectly in time with his own heartbeat, to realize where he was. A hospital. The events from… from… how long had he been out? The events from the last time Phoenix had been awake filtered in, disjointed and strange. He shivered at merely the memory of being cold and reminded himself he wasn’t in the deep and dark abyss any longer.
He was in a hospital.
Gumshoe had found him.
He was okay.
But what exactly was he going to be okay from?
Phoenix’s brow furrowed and he tried to sit up as he thought. All of his muscles protested at the attempt and he gave in to their cries easily, going nearly boneless. He could remember swimming through the water until he reached shore. Why had he been in the water in the first place? He thought back further.
He remembered going to one of Trucy’s shows. It had been good, as they always were. She’d had some new material, most of which she’d practiced on him before, but there was a trick or two that caught him by as much surprise as the rest of the onlookers. Miles had attended for once and had brought Trucy a big bouquet that she had gushed over the entire walk home.
He’d stayed up late, catching up with Miles. How rare it always seemed to be able to do that in person. Well, it was far less rare now, but seven years of nigh-constant distance wasn’t so quickly replaced.
He’d gone to bed… and then there was the water. If there was something between the two events - and surely there had to be - Phoenix wasn’t aware of it.
“Wright…”
A jolt ran down Phoenix’s spine and he automatically tried to sit up again, and once more failed to do so. He groaned at the pain, and his flopping around like a dying fish had changed his position enough to see the other side of the room. There were two chairs. Sitting in one was a vase of flowers with a balloon tied to it that read ‘Get Well Soon’. On the other chair was Franziska Von Karma.
“You fool!” She screamed and Phoenix flinched back. She had her whip in hand, tightly coiled up, and he counted his blessings she kept it like that instead of actually whipping him. She smacked the whip against his arm, and it turned out he had enough strength to try and shift over just a bit, just enough to be out of range. Except now Franziska was standing up, and saying a litany of “You foolish fool of a fool’s fools, fool of a man, foolishly fooling,” that Phoenix wasn’t even half listening to, just waiting for it to be over. He had half a mind to just pass out again. He was still tired, after all.
“You, you ,”
Phoenix’s eyes had slid shut at some point, but he opened them again when he realized there was something odd in Franziska’s voice. Actually, there was something odd about Franziska’s presence. Wasn’t she still in Germany? He knew she and Miles and been talking about her coming back to the states, but plans hadn’t been finalized. Had Miles asked her to watch him or something? She gave her one more hit on his likely-now-bruised arm, though this time it had noticeably less force behind it, and Phoenix watched in equal-parts confusion and shock as Franziska von Karma began to cry.
“You had me so scared! ”
Phoenix could do nothing but stare as big tears rolled down the woman’s cheek. Her face was screwed up tight and she was shaking slightly. She sniffled, and then reached up to wipe away the tears.
“Ms. Von Karma.” Phoenix said. Or, he attempted to say. His tongue slurred through the movements, muddling the name, and his voice sounded far too rough.
“Wright, what happened, where were you?!” She demanded, grabbing his shoulders, begging him for answers.
“I… I don’t know.” He answered honestly.
Franziska slowly straightened, placing her whip back on her hip. She was still shaking as she drew in a deep breath, but by the time she let it out slowly she was composed once more. Her face wasn’t flushed, her eyes weren’t red. If someone walked into the door right then, they’d never know she’d been crying at all. She sat back down and grabbed a file off of the side table, flipping it open.
“Father has decided to assign your case to that fool Gavin, but it was simple to get a copy of it. Scruffy can truly provide a great distraction.” She flipped open the file. “You were found at Gourd Lake one ago after being missing for a week. You were nearly drowned, and there was a rope found around your right ankle. There were bruises around the rope, but no other injury was found. You were, however, holding on to a strange green charm.” She snapped the file closed and gave him another look over, “The doctor said you were lucky to be alive. Clearly, she wasn’t familiar with your habit of bouncing back from ridiculous injuries. As it’s Friday, you’re expected back by Monday, although your current case was handed off to Debeste to finish.”
Phoenix’s brain felt a bit like soup, but not so much so that he didn’t understand what she was saying. The problem lied in the fact that what she was saying didn’t make any sense, and for the time being he set aside the confusing parts in favor of focusing on what had made sense. Yes, being found nearly drowned was what he remembered. The rope was somewhat surprising, but also made sense as to how Phoenix had been drowning. The implications, of course, didn’t sit exactly well. He imagined there was some kind of cinder block at the bottom of Gourd Lake now with the other half of the rope tied to it. He didn’t think he’d made any enemies that would hold that much of a vendetta, at least not recently. And then, the green charm… Oh!
For a third time he tried to sit up, and this time he actually managed to do so for an entire second before his core muscles gave out on him. Franziska took pity on him and hit the button on the bet that brought him up into more of a sitting position.
“The green charm! Where is it?” He asked.
“It’s being held as evidence currently. It might provide a clue to who did this to you.” Rage flitted across Franziska’s features for a moment, so quickly Phoenix almost thought it could be a trick of the light, “I must get back to work. I’ll have Scruffy stop by often to keep tabs on you. The doctor’s will likely want to hold you for one more night, but I’ll see if I can’t convince them to let you go by the end of the day.” She reached over and grabbed Phoenix’s hand giving it a very awkward squeeze that was probably supposed to be comforting, “Get rest. I’ll be back later this evening… brother.”
And then, before Phoenix even had time to process what she’d just called him, Franziska von Karma left the room.