Chapter Text
Dropped off in the country of his birth that he had no memory of, Apollo Justice had been shunted into the care of various people and facilities for the entirety of his first year or so in the states. He'd had to properly learn the language and the schooling system and everything. It was overwhelming and isolating being away from all he'd known for his childhood. Still, he'd had plenty of determination to get through.
He'd gained one friend in school and despite having to change again pretty soon after, Clay had bothered to actually keep up with him. Apollo had been able to bring him through a pretty dark time though he didn't personally credit himself with it as so huge as much as just...bonding with someone in a relatable situation. Even not truly confident about it, he'd tried to help, and in turn the other boy had latched onto Apollo too. Clay had the personality to drag Apollo out of his shell when he was feeling more awkward and wary and stick around him, and Apollo could encourage him in turn. When one was down, the other could bring him back up, and when both were up, they were capable of anything. They were quite the pair of friends.
Clay was also the entirely the reason Apollo had gone to a live magic show. Through a lot of begging, whining and a few favors, Clay had convinced Apollo to keep him company and attend a live show from Troupe Gramarye with him. Truthfully it was good for Apollo to get out and do not-schoolwork things but Clay swore up and down he just didn't want to be stuffed in a crowd alone - they weren't exactly good seats after all!
So Apollo had gone with him, sitting up on some crates way in the back of the open air venue and having to see the magic on the big screen rather than as direct or easy as "live show" was supposed to imply.
The tricks were pretty amazing but the crowd was pretty hard to take. The noise was overwhelming and Apollo felt anxious being surrounded by so many people. Subconsciously he pulled his sleeves lower, his hoodie covering his precious bracelet - it was the only thing he had from his parents and this was just the sort of environment where it could get taken.
Beside him, Clay took his hand to squeeze. He had sat on Apollo's left just so his friend felt just a bit more secure. He didn't understand everything but he at least got being anxious and protective over something you care about.
"They're doing finishing bows now, see? That trick is done. And it was a big one so we should be able to go soon!" He gave Apollo an encouraging grin and looked back up at the screen, drawing Apollo's attention back as well.
It was while looking at the performers as they were focused on for their bows and goodbyes that they spotted something shocking. The lovely lady of the trio on stage, Thalassa, was waving and smiling to the audience. As she waved, a glint on her wrist caught the light and both boys' attention at once.
There upon her wrist, blown up to great size on the screen behind her, was what looked like an exact copy of Apollo's bracelet.
With a gasp, the boy pulled his wrist up towards his chest and held his bracelet through his sleeve. Clay at his side tugged emphatically at the elbow of his hoodie.
"Whooooa! Pollo that's it! That's your bracelet!!!"
"I know!!!" Apollo hissed back, louder than he meant to.
"You've never seen another like it, right?"
"No… it's even got the same marks…"
Apollo didn't know what this meant but his bracelet felt tight on him in this moment for how tense he was, and all he could do was stare at this woman, focusing in on her figure on stage, following every movement as if in a trance. Everything still felt overwhelming and yet it had all faded out, leaving him unable to see anything besides her. He felt like things might be happening outside of him but he couldn't see it.
It wasn't till Clay put his hand across Apollo's eyes that he came out of this trance, his body relaxing and the tension easing. It was then that he felt the wetness on his face and realized he'd apparently started crying there.
They sat quietly on the boxes till the show started properly dismissing and they had to leave. Apollo was already unsettled in his own way, holding onto Clay's jacket ahead of him rather than being able to properly direct himself. His left hand he kept up at his chest, holding onto the strings of his red hoodie.
Clay got him a water from the cheap vending machines outside of the venue. "We gotta get you to see her."
"Wh-what?!" Apollo jumped a bit, splashing himself some with the newly opened water.
"You didn't see how you looked at her! You were staring like you were hypnotized or something!" Clay waved dramatically.
"She's a magician," Apollo grumbled shyly and drank his water. He felt weird about this whole business - plus how could they just see her? She was apparently famous. "We wouldn't be able to just see her."
"Come on, you're all good at sneaking when we have to avoid bullies or getting into the best spots in hide and seek! Let's go sneak in and see her! She could know about your family!"
Apollo stared at his friend, conflicted. On the one hand, there was plenty of desire to not break the law, to be well behaved. But sometimes things are more important than the laws as written! Hadn't he learned that - albeit only vaguely - in Khura'in? And he did so want a family again... After all, whoever gave him this bracelet had loved him enough to give him something special, right?
"Let's go." Apollo agreed at last, taking his best friend's sleeve with one hand and tossing his emptied water bottle into the nearby recycling bin - because Holy Mother forbid, he could go sneak in somewhere but he better not litter!
With Apollo's mild knowledge of sneaking - which was pretty good for a kid of ten - and Clay's ability to play decoy, the pair managed to actually make it to the dressing rooms and practice area the Troupe were using. They had made it together for most of the way, which was good because Clay was the one better with people by this point and Apollo was a nervous wreck.
That was until one last security guard seemed in danger of discovering them. With an encouraging grin and a wink, Clay squeezed Apollo's hand one last time and dashed out of cover, heading the wrong way to draw attention. Apollo had a clear shot to his goal...and he was all alone.
He crept forward quietly into the dressing room, clinging to his hoodie strings again.
"What have we here? A precocious pilferer, come to try his hands at a prize picked from the greatest hands of magic? Or perhaps a fan so in awe he cannot help but come to admire and bask in the glory of the magnificent and miraculous magic he has witnessed on this day?"
There was suddenly a pink cane pointed in Apollo's face and the boy started in surprise.
"Aahh!!"
In front of him was a man decked in yellow who managed to be grand, mystifying and not that impressive all at once. This probably came from having been raised by someone like Dhurke honestly. But what he lacked in intimidation factor, he made up for with the ability to be brightly colored and surprising to a ten year old who was already anxious.
The man started as well at Apollo’s surprise. He really didn’t actually seem a scary sort of character - much more grandiose and flowery than anything, and from the way he scattered some cards and ribbons from his sleeves when he jumped, he didn’t seem a particularly frightful person at all.
A booming laugh sounded from further in the room.
"We've finally found something you can scare at last! And a boy more timid than a mouse, not to mention my three year old!"
Once more Apollo jumped, letting out another noise of surprise and flinching away from the sound. It wasn’t so much that it was a bad sound but that it was just so much at once and this second guy had a lot of presence! From his sturdy hands on his hips to the way he laughed full chested and loud, this guy was plenty confident. He didn’t even flinch at Apollo’s shouts, just laughing harder.
It was different from having seen them on stage from far away in the crowd, being up close and personal with Zak and Valant was really unnerving, especially when he’d only just been dragged here to begin with, and now he was in their dressing room where he didn’t belong at all. This was all a terrible idea, seriously! He was going to yell at Clay SO bad for this when he got out of here.
“You jump quite easily! How did you manage to get back so far on such light nerves?” Zak Gramarye raised a brow at Apollo as he smirked down at him.
It was so much easier to feel ten and too small and out of place around such people and Apollo wished with all his heart Clay was with him again. He shook in his sneakers even as he spoke up.
“I-I had a friend help me,” he admitted. “I wanted - I need to - Please! Let me talk to your partner! She - I-”
That got another round of laughter, this time both partners joining in. Zak’s raucous laugh and Valant’s smug chuckle just made everything else feel worse and Apollo tried not to cover his ears and cower. He didn’t want to be here, he didn’t!
“I’m afraid the lovely maiden of mystery is quite…ah, taken already, young man.” Valant seemed to think there was something more amusing than just Apollo’s nerves but he didn’t understand what.
“What are you talking about?”
“Starting young, are you? But don’t get ideas in your head. It’s foolish to go after another man’s wife, you see!” Zak grinned, showing his teeth even as he pointed what seemed to be a playfully scolding finger at him.
“No I- what are you-?” Apollo was getting lost again. What were they talking about? Did they think he had a crush on her or something? Sure, she seemed nice and pretty but not like that! He didn’t come here for silly stuff like that.
“Alright, alright, that is quite enough of this. I shall call the fine guardian of this theater’s nethermost region to escort our adventurous guest back to his proper preservers!” Valant wiped at a tear of mirth from his eye.
“Nethermost?!” Once more Zak laughed, though this time more clearly aimed at his partner.
As Valant stepped towards the door to call the guard, Apollo felt his fear of missing his chance well up and overwhelm his anxiety of talking to them and all at once he shouted out.
“I JUST WANT TO ASK HER ABOUT MY BRACELET!!!”
His volume and emphasis shocked both men into silence and they blinked at Apollo, confusion setting in upon the room.
“Bracelet?” Valant asked. “Of what do you speak? I see nothing of the kind!”
Zak didn’t say anything but was giving Apollo such a stare now, instead of laughing.
Nervously, Apollo reached down and pulled up the sleeve on his hoodie, pulling it over his bracelet to show it. Hopefully this was a good choice, maybe they knew about Thalassa’s similar one and he could just go? Whatever it was, he needed to get through this.
At that moment, however, the door he’d entered through was thrown back open and into the room raced a small child who couldn’t be more than three, already sporting an oversized top hat to match Zak’s.
“Who’s shoutin?!” she called out, hands on her hips in mimic of the man’s earlier pose and voice loud and eager as she asked, looking around curiously. On spotting Apollo, she bounded over, immediately rushing into his space and jumping about. “Hi!!!”
Zak’s scrutinous gaze was finally broken by this appearance and he strode over in quick steps to scoop up the tot in his arms, lifting her up and out of Apollo’s personal space.
“Aha, perfectly timed.” He pressed kisses to her cheeks, making the girl giggle. “Did you run away on your own or did you bring your Mommy with you?”
“Mommy’s with me!” the girl cheered and flailed inarticulately at the doorway.
Her words were barely necessary as behind her rushed in the final member of the magic trio.
“I heard shouting - Trucy knocked over her juice when she came rushing out, is everything alright?”
Up close, she was even more pretty than on the big screen, and where her partners gave off vibes of impressive showmanship or flowery drama, she gave off a warmth and vibrant enthusiasm that clearly matched the little girl, clearly her daughter. They were coordinated on stage and even backstage they seemed to be a happy family of sorts too.
Looking at them all, Apollo felt even more strange and small and out of place. This had been a stupid idea. He shouldn’t have come here, he shouldn’t have asked, he should have just left it be. He wanted to pull up his hood and slip out quietly, maybe bolt out of the building and never look back. His hand moved to the sleeve he’d pulled up to his elbow and began to tug it down and-
Thalassa Gramarye had looked over properly at the source of the sound, and her mouth opened in surprise, her eyes widening and right hand instinctively raising before her as she took in his appearance. Her eyes seemed to move quickly from his shabby appearance to his face, to the sleeve he was trying to pull down to the bracelet on his wrist. She was looking at him and blinking and then…
“Apollo?” she’d whispered the name, falling to her knees and looking at him.
He gasped, staring at her wide-eyed, unable to focus on anything or anyone else in the room. “You…know my name?” How? No one really knew his name here, not that he hadn’t met through school or any of that before. And she definitely had never met him before. But she had a bracelet like his and if it was as unique as it seemed - had she known him as a child? Could she be-
Before his mind could finish the thoughts properly, she finished them for him. With a soft cry that sounded beautiful even for how much it felt like grief and loss, she reached out and pulled him to her, hugging him tight to her chest.
“Apollo, it is you!” she gasped the words as she squeezed him tight, “My baby…”
His ability to see clearly faded behind the tears as Apollo started to cry all over again, like he had when he’d seen the bracelet earlier. He tentatively reached up to hug her back, arms shaking. What he’d never dared hope was seeming like it might be true, and that was scary, among other things. But this was so warm and he felt so very…loved, for the first time since coming to this country. He felt like he was loved by a parent, which was such a weird and foreign feeling in some ways. He’d never had a mom before and didn’t know what to feel about it…
“Damn he does rather resemble him does he not?” Valant was muttering quietly, mostly to himself.
Immediately there was a dramatic gasp, and Valant trying to apologize, “Now Miss Trucy, that was not meant for your-”
“Do I get a BROTHER?!?!?!?!” the little girl squealed and there was some kind of commotion behind him.
Thalassa Gramarye - his mom??? - gave a little teary laugh, holding Apollo to her as she looked back at the others. “You do, Trucy…good catch. This is your older brother.” She gently turned Apollo around with hands on his shoulders to have him face the group again. “This is my son from - from before I married your Daddy, Trucy. Apollo, this is your little sister.”
Facing her again and trying to quickly scrub the tears from his eyes, Apollo was faced with the tiny girl flailing at him from Zak’s arms, eagerly trying to get back into invading the personal space she’d been scooped out of only a short while ago.
Her father seemed to ultimately decide it was no use and set the girl down again so she could rush forward and jump about in Apollo’s space again, latching onto his sleeves, his bracelet, the front of his hoodie, whatever her tiny pudgy hands could hold. Babbling and singing baby songs, intermingled with the words ‘brother! I gotta brother!’ a lot, the girl seemed thoroughly delighted by him, though clearly not entirely sure what one DID with a brother or how to behave.
The nice warm feelings he felt in his chest were unfamiliar and foreign and Apollo didn’t quite know what to make of them. Then he looked up and saw the way he was being regarded by Zak and Valant, and reality seemed to sink right back into place. Oh yeah, that’s right - he didn’t belong here.
Zak didn’t have that same warmth in his gaze looking at someone else’s child the way Dhurke had looking between him and Nahyuta, treating them both like his own sons. He didn’t seem hostile or anything, but there was a discomfort and frustration to his features that he was struggling to mask. Valant was fighting a less strong expression, but his displeasure only managed to be masked in incredulity.
In fact, their faces only properly seemed to change when a new focus came, causing both to pale some. A strong click of a cane was heard approaching the door, and Apollo could feel even his mother - Thalassa, her name was Thalassa - tense some. Only the little girl seemed bright and cheerful still, but she did quiet down to just smiling and bouncing on her heels, holding onto Apollo’s hand. If her little fingers were shaking more than his own, he couldn’t tell.
“I had come to talk to you about your performance today, but it seems we have something else to address. So tell me - what have we here?” the old man’s voice was clear without being particularly loud, and crisp in a way that made a shiver travel down Apollo’s spine. He didn’t even have to be visible or trying to make his presence and ability known, huh?
That night, Apollo crawled into bed and hid under his covers, trying hard not to shake too hard and calm himself down. His foster mother brought him the cordless phone after a while, exasperatedly saying that Clay Terran had called again and now he was here he should please answer.
So he reached out from under his blankets and pulled the phone to him.
“Hi Clay…”
“Pollo!!! How’d it go? You didn’t get hurt or in trouble did you? You don’t sound so good!”
Apollo was quiet for another moment, trying to stop sniffling. Finally he said, with a choked voice, “I met my mom.”
“What?”
“My Mom. She’s…she’s my Mom.”
“Whoa!! Apollo that’s so cool! That’s great! You got to meet your mom! I’m so glad we went to the show today!”
“Yeah…thanks Clay. I’m kinda tired from meeting everyone. Can we talk tomorrow?” Apollo said, voice still kinda shaky.
“Sure, but you have to tell me aaaaaaall about it then, kay?” Clay either believed him completely, or felt he really did sound so tired so was going to let him off easy for now. He was a great guy like that. "And hey remember - you're fine!"
"I'm fine," Apollo repeated it, with a bit less than his usual enthusiasm.
"Like you mean it! You're fine!"
"I'm fine!" Apollo repeated a bit more firmly. "I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine! I found my mom and I'm fine! Magicians are weird and I'm fine!!"
*We're fine!!" Clay agreed and at last let him go.
After he hung up, Apollo trudged out long enough to put the phone back on the base and headed back to his room again.
Sure, he’d found his mom. He even had a sister too. But it really felt like it wasn’t going to change much at all. He wondered vaguely if he might as well not have ever looked at all. But, as he'd just said - he was Apollo Justice and he was fine!!