The Adventure of the Century-Long Turnabout

Blood Ties

August 2nd, 3:00 pm.
???

"Honestly, I was expecting a graveyard, Mr. Wright." Commented Apollo, who was standing right next to Phoenix. He was wearing a coat, scarf and a beanie that didn't cover his horns. His chest hurt with the cold so he procured every piece of cloth that could keep him warm.
Phoenix was wearing just a coat, but he was regretting it.
The place they were in was a high one, like a small mountain that had an awesome view of the sea and some trees that rustled thanks to the cold and strong wind.
"Mr. Holmes had a house not so far from here, I guess he owned this part as well." said Phoenix.
"So, this is where he was laid to rest. It looks abandoned..." Apollo kneeled and cleaned the stone before him with a tissue, revealing a name that was being forgotten."Ryuunosuke Naruhodou"
"Daddy! Why do you walk so fast?" Trucy reached them, carrying a bouquet and being well prepared for the cold."I guess this is a family reunion, huh? Grandpa Ryuu sure is lonely."
There was a single tomb up there, the stone clearly deteriorated by the weather but still complete.
"Why they didn't bury Ms. Mikotoba or Sherlock here as well?" asked Trucy.
"Sherlock's body was never found and Mikotoba rests in Japan, plus, that family was put in quite the hard spot. But at least I know that they are together now." Answered Phoenix.
"The death that one day separates us will get us together at the end, huh?" Apollo said.
"Woah Polly! Why the sudden gloom?"
Phoenix was surprised too. Apollo was loud all the time and always had a smile to share, but he also had suffered a lot. He had experienced the death of his loved ones ever since he was a child. But Phoenix had the feeling that that was just a part of the problem.
"It's just that I've been thinking a lot..."
Apollo looked at the tomb and touched his bracelet. Phoenix tried hard to figure out what was on his mind.
THE BRACELET WAS ONCE HIS MOTHER'S
Ok, he knew at least that. But why would Apollo remember his mother now? He thinks that she's dead?
Phoenix bit his lip, he wished so bad that he could tell them the truth about their mother. But it wasn't the time.
Trucy sat down next to Apollo, he patted her head and smiled.
"I'm so glad that you're here Truce."
HE FELT LONELY
The thought illuminated Phoenix's mind. Apollo wasn't thinking about her mother, he remembered her because she had left him. He started to act weird as he saw Ryuunosuke's tomb. "It looks abandoned..." he had said before kneeling and starting to clean it up. He knew too well how it was to feel alone, to feel like there's nobody to help you. Maybe that was why he was always fine for everyone, to never let them feel how he once felt. "...will get us together at the end..."
He liked that part of death? To meet your loved ones once again? If that was the case, why did he sound sad?
HE HAD NEARLY DIED A MONTH AGO
Ah.
He liked the idea of seeing his loved ones again, however, he didn't want to die yet. Phoenix remembered Apollo crying while he was delirious, he wished with all his forces to keep living. Why? That was easy, he still has people he cares about in life. Trucy, for example, ever since he left the hospital he hugged her everytime he could and tried to keep her happy. Apollo also tried to talk more with Phoenix, even with Blackquill. He still loved his life after all.
Phoenix smiled, proud of the young lawyer and feeling so happy to see him being fine again. He needed to show him.
"Apollo" called Phoenix, the boy lifted his head. Wright also sat down next to him and patted his shoulder, smiling. "We are really glad that you're alive. We missed you a lot and we were very afraid of losing you, but you fought and came back to us...thank you. Thank you so much, Apollo." And then he hugged him.
"Mr. Wright..." Apollo said, his voice breaking, he embraced him and also Trucy. Phoenix's theory about his behavior was correct.
"Aww Polly, come here." Said Trucy, wipping Apollo's tears and hugging him too.
Apollo wasn't one to openly cry, but after all that had happened during the last month these simple actions were enought to draw his feelings out. He cried but his heart felt better, better enough to draw a smile on his face.
"Thank you..." he murmured. After they separated Apollo looked at Naruhodou's tomb now with different eyes, noticing a plate of stone in front of it. It was almost completely covered of grass, but it looked somehow different from the tomb."Look at this, Mr. Wright."
Apollo cleaned the stone and now it was clear that it was suspicious. It was divided in two by a clean cut, not just a crack.
"They loved secret compartments, it can be another one if we're lucky enough."said Phoenix. "That or we will find Naruhodou's skull and I will be cursed forever..." he said, now doubting.
"C'mon Mr. Wright, maybe there isn't any bones anymore...I hope." Said Apollo, gulping. He lifted a part of the stone but as he managed to separate it from the dirt he screamed. Phoenix and Trucy also yelped and flinched.
"NOW I'M CURSED." Yelled Phoenix.
"Daddy! It's just the spiders!"said Trucy before breaking in a laugh. Apollo shook his arms.
"I should have expected that! Damn! These things sure are scary!" however, when he looked at the place again it was free of spiders, they were also scared of the three yelling people jumping over them. Now with the light a white box was visible, waiting to be opened.
Trucy helped to get it out and cleaned it before seeing its contents. It contained a new notebook and tons of notes and photos.
"Another journal, I'm seriously considering writting one myself."said Phoenix. He read the name on the cover. "Iris Watson"
"She was the girl in the photos! The one with the pink hair!" chirped Trucy.
"I was wondering about her. Naruhodou and Ms. Mikotoba mentioned her a lot in their journals, but her name suddenly stopped to came out." Apollo pressed his forehead in thought while talking.
The journal had some entries marked, Phoenix picked the first one and read out loud.
"Luckily, nobody expected Watson to be a little girl. They were expecting a gentleman as the loyal compannion of Sherlock Holmes so nobody looked out for me when Baskerville started to chase us down.
Susato and me were rescued by the Wright family, who threated us like if we were part of the family since the beggining. However, we knew that Baskerville would look for us one day so we made a plan and split up. I took all the evidence from Mr. Naruhodou's case along with his journal with me. But it wasn't all.
Everybody knew that Susato was pregnant so we had no way of hiding her child without revealing that we were two teams; one that was still looking for the truth while the other had their hands tied. So, one of her sons stayed with her, but the other escaped with me..."
"The other? What the—"
"Polly! Don't interrupt!" shushed Trucy, intrigued. Phoenix chuckled before continuing.
"...Nobody but us knew that she had twins; Ryuiichi and Ryuutarou. Ryuiichi stayed with his mother and was called Raymond Wright while I took Ryuutarou with me back to England, where we were adopted by the Captain Justice, the best friend of Mr. Wright, the head of the family. We stayed in England under the very nose of Mr. Baskerville so he never found us. However, we moved in the shadows trying to find some missing clue, some sort of lead, something that could bring justice to our friend. But then, Sherlock dissapeared too.
He didn't know that we were back, it was impossible to tell him. I tried to look for him but he was gone. I don't know if I will ever see him again..."
The first note ended there. Phoenix looked for the second one, intrigued.
"Sherlock is dead.
My heart cried day and night for a long time, honestly I will never recover from this.
However, I can't give up now. Susato and I had been exchanging notes, we leave them at Naruhodou's grave, the only place in which they let her be alone. Thanks to that I now know that Mr. Baskerville found her, but she still outsmarted him.
She reproduced the letter Baskerville had sent her and hid it in her diary until the time came. She said in her note that her kimono was good to hide things in its sleeves so she used it with the excuse of using it as a memento to visit Naruhodou, then she left her journal at our hiding spot for me to recover it.
It was the only lead we had obtained after all this time, however, it was useless. We had no way to prove that it was possible or that Baskerville had a motive to write that letter, after all, he was cleared of the murder charges and he didn't kill Naruhodou. We needed something to tie up his murder and Baskerville to give credibility to that letter.
We will look for any clue that could help.
In the meantime, we can't risk our case.
I hid the evidence and Susato's journal where nobody but us could find it. I only left a clue in Sherlock's journal. Only us truth seekers will be able to get this when the time is right."
The remaining things were photos, one of them showed Iris now as a young woman, an old man that looked very proud and a small boy that was like a small clone of Naruhodou. The back of the photo said that he was Ryuutarou.
Another photo showed an older Susato, dressed very elegant and being scorted by a young man, identical to her dead husband too. He was Raymond, or Ryuuichi as they know him.
The next one was Iris, now clearly aged with Ryuutarou, both dressed like scientists. There was a note written behind:
"Ryuutarou is a brilliant young man, he started up as my assistant but now he's starting to make his own path. He's studying new techniques to apply science at solving crime scenes and the people is finally starting to recognize us. This is like one of Sherlock's dreams, he would be so happy with this...
Mr. Naruhodou would also be really proud of him.
Iris."
"Look! Ryuuichi was a doctor!" exclaimed Trucy with the next photo. It looked like Iris and Susato used this to know how they were doing and it seemed to work pretty well.
"What's really sad is that Ms. Susato probably never met her son in person..." said Apollo. He had never met his real parents either, it was easy for him to relate to Ryuuichi in that way. "Neither of them got into law, maybe that's why they never solved Naruhodou's case."
"Actually, they had no way of solving it. Sherlock gave Karma to the Von Karmas and so the last notes were hidden all the time." Answered Phoenix.
"So, the Wrights were forced to forget everything and the Justices guarded Naruhodou and Sherlock's journals until they could find proof. That's how my father got th—" Apollo stopped. The next photo was very recent and he recognized the people on it in an instant. It was Jove, hugging a small child in his arms.
"Aww Polly, you had horns since you were a baby. Wait...is that..." Trucy looked closer at the photo and gasped. "Lamiroir!"
Next to Jove there was a woman, wearing a scarf and mantle, touching baby Apollo's face.
Phoenix gulped. Luckily she was wearing that strange attire instead of her magician costume or else Trucy would recognize her in an instant. He supposed that, being the weird man he was, Thalassa's father didn't approve Jove so she visited him in secret.
"Lamiroir is...my mom? I-I can't believe this...just how? Why?" he turned the photo looking for a note, he started to read it.
"Us Justice shall give meaning to our name and look for the truth. For being the last Justice it's now my mission to take care of the old journals that carry the details of the Naruhodou Ryuunosuke case. My grandfather thought that we may find a lead if we looked for Karma, Naruhodou's katana, but his life ended too soon and with my father gone too I'm the only one able to search. I used my talent as a musician to travel around the world looking for clues and finally found one.
The katana was stolen from its guardians years ago but I was able to find a new record of it. It was sold in a public auction six months ago and it was sent to a country named Kura'in, I don't know exactly who's the owner but there will be a big party and if I have enough luck I may be able to find new info.
I'm taking my son, Apollo, with me. I hope someday he will grow up and search for this truth along with me. The idea of living quietly in family sounds really good, I shall talk to her soon...
Jove Justice."
"He was investigating when he died..." concluded Apollo, his horns falling forward. "I wish I could have met him...but..." he looked at the photo again. "Lamiroir...I have to look for her! I will call Prosecutor Gavin, he sure knows where she is right now! Oh my god...my mother is alive, I can't believe this..."
Phoenix put a hand on his shoulder, smiling.
"Can you do me a favor before you go?" he asked.
"Of course Mr. Wright!"
"Please, take Trucy with you."