Fanfic / The Danger and the Damage

The Danger and the Damage is an Ace Attorney fanfic series written by ValueTurtle and posted on Archive of Our Own.

Phoenix Wright had his life back on track. He'd cleared his name. Passed the bar (again!). His law firm was due to expand, and he even had a sharp, new suit.

The world will mourn his passing.

Imminent Danger is the first (published) work in the series, detailing Phoenix's apparent murder outside of the Wright Anything Agency and the aftermath. A sequel is planned and will tackle the characters' dynamics now that they no longer have a tragedy to rally themselves around.

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The Danger and the Damage contains examples of:

• Afraid of Needles: Phoenix is trypanophobic, but donated blood 5 times in order not to lose face in front of Apollo.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: A mutual one, without actually saying the word "love" aloud, from Miles and Nick during the channeling. Nick actually got disconnected from Maya before he could finish his last sentence - "I'll say it for both of us. Miles, I -" (cut to Phoenix's physical location) "- love you."
• A Taste of the Lash: Kristoph subjects Nick to this as part of the extended Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Big Sister Instinct: Franziska confronts Miles and talks him out of trying to distract himself with work instead of grieving Nick.

• Cassandra Truth: Doubling with Dramatic Irony. One of the tips the characters receive about Nick is that Kristoph Gavin is Back from the Dead for revenge, but they slot it right next to improbable theories like Yakuza involvement and supernatural creatures. The reader is aware that Kristoph was most likely tormenting Nick at the same time.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: What Kristoph Gavin subjects Phoenix to, both physically and psychologically. It results in numerous injuries, including amputated fingers, and mental scars that will take a long time to heal.
• Contrived Coincidence: Apollo spots Kristoph on the video footage just as he was talking about how Phoenix mentioned that Kristoph murdered him.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Phoenix accidentally corrects Kristoph, as he was panicking about Kristoph undoing the sunflower tattoo (not knowing that Nick has actually passed the bar exam again) and causing more pain.
• Did You Actually Believe...?: Kristoph gaslights Phoenix into believing he'd force Nick to eat glass, then laughs at Nick for his "wrong" belief. He'll just cut Nick's mouth instead.
• Dead Man Writing: Phoenix leaves behind letters for Miles, Trucy, and Apollo. Trucy doesn't read hers until Phoenix has been rescued alive, though.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Miles admits to doing this as a coping mechanism in his opening-up conversation with Trucy.
• Enemy Mine: Kristoph Gavin and Matt Engarde despised each other, yet teamed up to ruin Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Kristoph - the "wounded" pun in No, You being one of the worst offenders.
• Fake Kill Scare: Phoenix's death was faked both to throw authorities off the trail - investigating a murder, not a kidnapping - and to start a chain of events that would tarnish his legacy and wound Edgeworth's pride/reputation.
• Faking the Dead: Kristoph's execution was faked - Klavier witnessed the injection, but didn't know what was actually in the syringe.
• Fatal Family Photo: A variant in which seeing the photo actually (nearly) lead to the character's death. Satisfied with seeing Trucy one last time, Nick decides to stop fighting. Had it not been for Dr. Sarah fatally shooting Kristoph and the police's timely arrival, Phoenix would have drowned.
• Fingore: Phoenix's left hand is crushed, costing him two fingers.
• Food as Bribe: A steak with mushroom confit, pommes frites, and red wine is among one of the bribes for Matt Engarde to reveal Nick's whereabouts.
• Force Feeding: Threatened by Kristoph when Nick lost his appetite briefly.
• Flower Motifs: Discussed Trope by Kristoph.
  "It always amused me," Kristoph began as he drew a long line, "that the defense attorney badge is modelled on the sunflower. Such a common flower in comparison to the prosecutor's chrysanthemum. In the language of flowers, our sunflower means respect, and, ahem, passionate love." He looked up at Phoenix, irony twisting his mouth. "Radiance, too, though that's less thematically fitting so I do hope you excuse me if I brush," he wiped away a mistake, "over it."
• Gaslighting: One of Kristoph's tactics, with the goal of essentially training Phoenix to be afraid of his loved ones and push "making Kristoph happy so that I won't get hurt" to the top of his priority list. As the author's note for "the torture chapter" has it:
  His relationship with Kristoph becomes intense, as his entire world is shaped by the man. In the last scene, Kristoph obtains a tabloid magazine that reveals that Apollo and Klavier are in a relationship; Phoenix is so traumatised by Kristoph that his only thoughts are on how this will impact him, personally.
• Glasgow Smile: Phoenix has an old scar on one side of his mouth that Kristoph decides to make symmetrical and this trope.
• Gratuitous German: As in canon, this is Klavier Gavin's stock-in-trade, the least being his nicknames "Herr Forehead" and "mein Stacheltier" (my hedgehog) for Apollo.
• I Have My Ways: Edgeworth's non-answer on how he managed to acquire a full-show bootleg of the Steel Samurai musical.
• I Kiss Your Foot: Kristoph forced Phoenix to lick his boot, to be precise, but the connotations of humiliation and domination are the same.
• Last-Name Basis: Edgeworth is on this with most people, except for a handful. In chapter 11 of Imminent Danger, he calls Nick "Wright" even as he professes his love.
• Men Don't Cry: von Karma certainly believed this, and trained Miles not to cry ever since he was a child. Miles ended up crying under a Shower of Angst in the very first chapter.
• Missing Mom: Lamiroir/Thalassa shows up, and is mentioned in Phoenix's letters to be Apollo and Trucy's birth mother.
• Mistaken for Suicidal: Having gone through the same ordeal, Miles mistakenly thinks Trucy being cheerful and determined meant that she has decided to kill herself. She swiftly corrects him when he brings this up.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Phoenix warns Apollo not to do this in the letter he leaves behind.
• No Indoor Voice: Apollo is described as "always loud" by Miles.
• No One Could Survive That!: The sheer amount of blood at the crime scene led the police and everyone except Trucy to conclude Phoenix is dead. It's actually blood collected previously from a fraudulent blood drive van.
• No Social Skills: Miles Edgeworth, as is in canon. Trucy is annoyed when he awkwardly orders pizza in stop-start statements and confused how he could be a successful, accomplished prosecutor if he could barely get takeout.
• No, You:
  Kristoph: Do you trust me?
  Phoenix: No.
  Kristoph: Oh? I'm wounded. No, you're wounded.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Trucy analyzes Miles' OOC behavior (ordering pizza, being concerned about work-life balance, going to therapy, and sharing his Steel Samurai fandom with others) and concludes that Miles is taking a serious effort to not be von Karma.
• The Perfectionist: The von Karma family pursue this ideal, and Miles slowly works himself out of it with the help of therapy.
• Power is Sexy: Matt Engarde is turned on by Miles' display of authority.
• Punny Name: In line with Ace Attorney canon tradition.
  • Sarah Brum (cerebrum, the largest part of the brain).
  • Anita Warren (I need a warrant).
  • Penny Scriven, Edgeworth's secretary. "Scriven" means "to put in writing", and Penny recalls "pen", a writing implement.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Ema Skye hands in her resignation after she failed to recognize that the crime scene was faked, but Edgeworth refuses to accept the resignation, presumably because he doesn't blame her.
• Serial Killer: Kristoph is a Power/Control type, though he takes offense at a magazine referring to him as such. "Attempted serial killer" doesn't have the same ring to it, though. Furthermore, as far as the publication was aware, he has already killed 3 people - Nick included -, fulfilling Robert Ressler's criteria for serial killers (listed as 3-5 murders on this very wiki). ^note The FBI criteria puts it at 2 murders.
• Shout-Out:
  • Hamlet is quoted and mentioned as Phoenix's favorite play.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Kristoph rarely raises his voice, no matter the depravity of his actions. At one point, his tone towards Phoenix is even described as "loving".
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Apollo talks Miles into going to therapy, and it does wonders for Miles' psyche.
• Tranquil Fury: "Kristoph's face was perfectly blank, but his eyes were furious and he had curled his hands into fists."
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kristoph dumps Nick in Gourd Lake when he can no longer torture Nick, and shoots Dr. Sarah when she attempts to persuade him to spare Phoenix.