eudaimonikos | Balance IC Inbox

[ it's been some time -- despite more or less trying not to think about what happened in wonderland, one thing sticks in her mind. a lot's happened and there's a lot she doesn't know -- she's been preoccupied. ]

[ something sticks in her mind, though. it's michael. her thoughts keep drifting back to him -- to all of it, in wonderland. ]

[ she's put this off long enough. ]

Mr. Michael? Can we talk?

[Oh.

Michael knew he should have apologized to Maya. He apologized to Alex already. But that was only because Alex stumbled across him first - he's sure that if that hadn't happened, he would have avoided both of them just as hard. He'd be avoiding them still.

Of course he meant to find her and apologize eventually. He just doesn't have the words yet.

It takes a few minutes before he responds, voice hoarse.]

Uh, if you want.

[ sooner or later they would have run into each other, but this is bothering her. ]

.... I'm, um, in the med bay, but maybe it's better if we talk like this.

[ not even because she's afraid (she's too tired to be), but because of what her leg looks like now. ]

I'm... I'm not mad at you, or anything.

[ if he was worried about that. ]

That's stupid.

[Of course he was worried about it! But it's almost worse that nobody is.]

But very common. Listen, I'm sorry for everything I did. I know that isn't an adequate apology, but I haven't figured out what would be yet.

Which part?

[ michael just attacked some very forgiving people it's fine ]

I don't think you need to do anything special. I mean..... that was Wonderland, right? That made you act like that.

[ sweet summer maya, etc. ]

Wonderland didn't make people get violent like that.

[All he's heard about was the incident with Ogata, and that sounded...completely unrelated to Wonderland, honestly.]

I mean... it kind of did, though, directly or otherwise. I think that was the point.... playing on the ugliest parts of us, trying to make us hurt each other whether we wanted to or not. And you.... you don't want to hurt people. You told me that.

[ ..... ]

Besides, I..... I didn't even really try to snap you out of it. [ too preoccupied with watching her sister get eaten in front of her, as you do. ] Maybe you just needed a little push.

Oh, come on. You can't blame yourself for not stopping a demon from being evil.

[That's just plain ridiculous. Just because he stopped eventually, because evidently he did have some capacity for empathy that was just dormant all those years, that doesn't mean any of his past torture victims should have just been friendlier to him.]

Even if you could have done that, I did that whole thing with Mia and then I shattered your leg! I think you were a little busy.

[ it's different because he's good now and wonderland was affecting him!!! so clearly he just needed a reminder of the power of friendship to bring him back to his non-torturing self. ]

[ (he's right and he should say it) ]

I mean.... the leg was kind of my own fault. But my sister..... that was....

... that hurt.

[ there's an uncomfortable pause. ]

But I don't think that you're evil.

How was the leg thing your fault?

[Sure, Michael had thought of it in those terms at the time; he wanted her to shatter it herself in her struggles. But he's the one who webbed her down in the first place, and taunted her into doing it.]

And what I was doing was obviously evil.

My leg turned to glass in the first place because I rolled the dice that stupid creep gave me. And I knew it was risky to keep moving around on it... I mean, glass is fragile, that's a thing.

[ that's why it's always in special boxes. ] It was already cracked before I got stuck, anyway.

[ so it wasn't just him. ]

Well, yeah, but.... that was Wonderland messing with you, to make you like that.

We all rolled the stupid dice.

[Well, he did. It wasn't really related to what happened with him down in the labyrinth, though, so never mind that.]

Wonderland didn't make me into anything I'm not. It only erased some memories - you might as well have met the regular me from a few years ago.

Not everyone did.....

[ but there's the bigger issue here. ]

[ .... ]

It is someone you're not. Maybe it was the old you, but you.... you told me, about how you made friends, about how you didn't want to torture humans anymore, about how you're on the run because you're trying to save them. If you were still that guy, you had plenty of opportunities to hurt me before Wonderland. I mean, I was in jail at one point. You offered to bust me out.

I'm sure you did it for a good reason.

[He did!]

Isn't breaking someone out of jail sort of an illegal, demon-y thing to do? [pffft] I just - what if something like that happens again? It doesn't take a lot to make me turn into a horrible monster.

I did, but... I just mean, I can't really get mad at you when I was being a little reckless in the first place, you know?

[ "a little reckless". but yeah, she did it to save henrik and she doesn't regret it. ]

Now you're just being stubborn. Besides, you're not the only person who got violent 'cause of Wonderland..... and you changed before, so you could probably do it again in a pinch, right? Or one of the bards could put you to Sleep or something.

...I guess Sleep would've been a good option. Not that I went after any bards anyway.

[But the rest of that is, eh.]

It took me hundreds of years and the threat of extinction to even consider working with humans. I don't think that was going to happen again. [...] That happened to other people?

Weeell... when you think about it, the threat of extinction is always around. The Hunger and all that, you know? Plus, I've got Dimension Door now, I could put you in like a demon time out or something if it happens again.

[ or just get nick junior to take care of it. the real beast. ]

Um, yeah, a bunch of people hurt me, or their literal demons came to life and did. ... Not, like, you demons, like... personal ones. Even without Wonderland, I've been attacked or threatened by plenty of other Reclaimers. [ so don't feel too bad, michael. ] I just... wasn't expecting you to know about my sister.

You should do the door thing, if it does. I wouldn't listen to you about the Hunger.

[And he hadn't remembered about it at the time, he thinks? It really hadn't even come to his mind.]

...yeah. She...she told me she was dead a while ago. Kinda comes up, with my...being from the afterlife, and all that. [.....] But that's all she said, that she was dead. Everything else was just me looking for a way to hurt you.

[It had been very successful, clearly. But it's not like he got all that blame from anything Mia had said.]

Got it! See, we figured it out, so don't beat yourself up about it, okay?

[ her energetic 'cheer up' energy only lasts as long as it takes for them to talk about mia again. then it's back to the good ol' gentle self-deprecation. ]

Well, it's like..... I found her body, you know? If I had been there just a couple of minutes before....

[ then maybe she could have done something. or at least, that's how maya's been thinking of it. ever since it happened, evidently. ]

A-Anyway, um. [ she doesn't want to make this about her! ] Do you.... do you still wanna be friends?

[Was Mia sick? Was there an accident? A murder? Michael doesn't actually know, and the answer would significantly change his response. But he's also not sure he should ask. Maya doesn't seem to want to discuss it, and Michael can certainly understand that much.]

Do you?

[ it's always murder in ace attorney, michael. he can always ask mia, she's more than happy to make gallows humor jokes about it. ]

Of course! [ she at least has the self-awareness not to be like 'why wouldn't i want to be'? ] I have to admit..... I think you're really impressive.

...you do?

[Michael is usually better at taking compliments. But not in this particular circumstance!]

Yeah. The old you was really scary, um, no offense..... but you're so far away from that person now. You're really nice and cool and you're friends with humans, and you're kind of a dork. In a good way.

[ she's seen this before, with will, which is maybe part of why she's taking this in stride. ] I know that a lot of humans are bad, and some of us do such horrible things it's no wonder you thought we deserved to be tortured.... and I think it takes a lot of strength to see past that and just believe, especially if you're not human yourself. So the fact that you got there, even if it took you a long time.... I think it's really kind of amazing. It proves that anyone can change.

...none taken.

[How could he take offense to that, really? And the rest of it is...so sweet? Like, wow?]

I don't think any of you are as bad as all that. Like you said, anyone can change. Besides, an eternal punishment seems extreme - all your actions are only limited. Chidi had this whole reading about that.

[ she's got a very big heart in a tiny body!! ]

I don't know who Chidi is, but, I agree. I just mean.... looking from the outside, I can see why people think the worst of humans. But you only think the best of humans, even though I bet some of us haven't given you much of a reason to.

[ and that's why it's important. ]

For me, all that scary demon Michael stuff is in the past. I really like the you that you are now.

Balance IC Inbox

audio, shortly after wonderland

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