Junithena

Junithena is the femslash ship between Athena Cykes and Juniper Woods from the Ace Attorney fandom.

Canon
Juniper and Athena are childhood good friends, and they were seemingly close as kids to the point they had given each other nicknames with Athena calling her "Junie" while the latter called Athena "Thena", and they kept doing that so. Athena also firmly believes on Juniper, being against to those who didn't trust on Juniper's innocence, and so being protective of her. Athena also knows about Juniper's crush on Apollo, and Cykes tries on telling Apollo indirectly about this, but he's rather very unaware of this, as he doesn't get what Athena meant to say to him.

Athena and Juniper have similarities, as both used to be quiet, and although because of this they got along with one another and soon became good friends. Both also didn't attend school regularly due to health issues; Juniper suffering coughing fits oftenly and Athena found hard to be around groups of people due to her ability to pick up subtle emotions from peoples' voices, and made her wear a pair of headphones made by her mother though Athena didn't like them at all. After Athena's mother was murdered, Athena was sent to live in Europe. After a while they started exchanging letters, but wouldn't meet face-to-face again for seven years. Juniper was popular with the opposite sex apparently, as this was remarked by Athena herself and she claimed that guys often handed her love letters before asking her to give them to Juniper, much to the disappointment of Athena.

Months after Phoenix Wright's return to the defense attorney profession, Themis Legal Academy asked him to give a seminar at the school festival. Wright invited Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes to join him, although Athena was an hour late. Athena caught up with Phoenix in the hallway, and it's in that moment where she met her childhood friend, Juniper, whom she had not seen for 7 years, and Juniper was shocked to so suddenly meet her childhood friend again. Adding to this was Athena's complete change in personality. Gone was the quiet and shy girl she had known, replaced by a far more confident and outgoing young woman (Juniper).

The academy was preparing a mock trial, however while it was underway, the dead body of Constance Courte was found on the outdoor stage by Cykes and Wright, and the mock trial was abruptly cut short before a verdict could be given. After the police arrived, Bobby Fulbright had arrested Juniper on the grounds that Courte's murder had been enacted in a very similar way to Juniper's script for the mock trial, plus adding that the awl she still had in her pocket turned out to have Courte's blood on it (found by a policeman), which made things worse to her. As Fulbright took Juniper away, Athena declared that she was going to represent her in court.

After the trial, Woods thanked Cykes and Justice, and although the school festival had been initially canceled, it was extended for one more day in Constance Courte's memory, and Juniper went on to sing "The Guitar's Serenade" (since she was choosen to do so) while Athena, Apollo, Newman, and O’Conner watched from the audience. Her performance went perfectly, with Newman in particular praising her singing voice.

Less than two months after Themis Legal Academy incident, when Athena and Apollo decide on taking Juniper's defense (once again), she's seen coughing a bit while apologizing to them that whenever she's gotten nervous, she always had those cough fits, though it didn't happen oftenly to her in her homeland. Athena introduces Juniper as her very dear childhood friend, and it was ridiculous that Juniper had committed a bombing during a trial that was taken before. Juniper then gives Athena an orange, as she told her that her grandma had once mentioned that the color of the orange meant strength and endurance, and Athena inmediately understands what Juniper meant while giving the fruit to her, and so saying to herself Juniper was always so good to her, as she found herself clutching the orange on her chest with tears on her eyes.

However, when Athena was decided on defending Juniper and so not getting nervous for not worrying her, Apollo's injuries opened and Athena told him she was going to be in charge, but it was up to Juniper, and then Athena asks her if she was okay with Athena taking over the defense. Juniper happily accepts as she said she believed in her, and it was enough for her. Athena then introduces herself, and it was her second time taking a trial, but the first which she did it alone, but she had to defend Juniper, as she's decided on not about to let anything bad happen to her.

During the brief recess, Athena, Phoenix, and Juniper are looking for Apollo and when they find him, he's seen lying on the floor unconscious on the floor, leaving the three mentioned shocked at it. The next day, the ambient was tense between Phoenix, Athena, and Juniper, which Athena tried on brighting the mood for cheering both Phoenix and Juniper up, though it does not happen with Juniper, who remained on silent. Athena gets worried, as she tries on cheering her up until she mentions the word "justice", which took Juniper by surprise and is seen crying while blaming herself about what had happened to him as Athena was surprised and noticed what she had said and tried on apologizing to her. Once Athena calmed Juniper and the latter was resting, she tells Phoenix on how Juniper was feeling responsable for what happened to him, as she felt very down about it. Phoenix notices it inmediately, and he said he knew she was concerned about Juniper, but he also asked about Athena's doing. Athena reassures him by saying people who've studied analytical psychology are great at times like those, and because of it, they could control their emotions. But then, she gets exalted when remembering to what happened to Apollo, and Phoenix reminded her of what she said about controlling her emotions, adding they had to focus on Juniper. Athena agrees, saying Apollo's assailant could wait after they cleared Juniper's name.

Athena was very happy when Juniper was declared innocent, as she said to her that she could go back home to the forest in peace. Juniper smiles as says to both Phoenix and Athena she was hoping that both of them could visit her sometime. Phoenix thanks her, as he said it was a nice invitation, but Athena reminds Juniper about how high up she lived, which was around 3000 feet, which shocks Phoenix as he corrects internally the forest part with a mountain. The case finishes with the three visiting Apollo at the hospital.

Two days after her acquittal, Juniper learned that Athena had been arrested as she was suspected of the same murder as Solomon Starbuck. Juniper visited the Cosmos Space Center, where the crime had occurred, to search for Phoenix. She met him at the building's Space Museum and proceeded to tell him about Cykes's childhood. Juniper told Wright that Cykes had grown up in the space center with his mother and that the robots at the center were his only real company while he was there. Because of that clue, it helped Wright eventually uncover not only the truth behind the current case, but also the murder of Athena's mother, thereby releasing Cykes from all charges. Then Juniper joined defense attorneys and friends at a local noodle stand for a celebratory meal.

Quotes
Turnabout Countdown "This is Juniper Woods. She's my dear, dear childhood friend, and she's also our client for this case. The news keeps repeating that Junie is the "alleged bomber"... But that's ridiculous! There's no way Junie would do anything like that!"

- Juniper's introduction by Athena - Turnabout Countdown.

Turnabout Academy

Fanon
The ship itself it's one of the most popular femslash ships in the fandom. It's popular for those who prefer shipping Athena with women instead of men, as she's often headcanoned as a lesbian due to her behavior around women oftenly praising them. It was first shipped when both were introduced at first in Dual Destinies, and it's when a part of their relationship was introduced to the players. Later, when the full story between them was presented, it made the ship more loved. Femslash ships in the Ace Attorney fandom are rather very common and loved due to the interactions between women, which are more than just friendly talks and whatsoever, taking as example SusaHao, Fradrian, or Franmaya.

In fan arts, Junithena is oftenly depicted as Tomboy x Girly Girl because of their look and behavior. Although Athena isn't exactly tomboyish, she's a very active/cheerful and a confident woman herself, while Juniper is the opposite, with being the shy type. Athena is also drawn with a different outfit than what she uses to wear in the game, while in it she wears a skirt, in most fan arts she's drawn in suits (or pants), as people preferred her like that, and also a bit more taller than Apollo. Athena's also drawn with short hair in Junithena's artworks.

Although it has rivals like Junipollo (which is semi-canon due to Juniper's canon crush on Apollo), Justicykes (popular because of their best friend bond and often theories of both secretly dating), and Cykesquill (Athena's most popular ship), it remains as the most popular with Juniper and secondly for Athena. On AO3, it has 220 fan fictions created, as it describes the popularity of the ship, which it isn't small, rather decent-popular. It can be shipped with same-sex ships such as Klapollo, Trupearl, Franmaya, or NaruMitsu.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Juniper/Athena tags on FanFiction.net
 * Juniper/Athena tags on FanFiction.net
 * Juniper/Athena tags on FanFiction.net

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