The 'card evidence' from 2-4, concrete proof of who Maya was believing in to potentially die for, disappears with Franziska and seems to never return in GS3, even though Franziska does. [Edgeworth summons her in that game, to do battle with him.]
But maybe it does make a metaphoric 'return' along with Franziska - or at least Phoenix's unwitting and oblivious 'reply' to it.
Maya's unadmitted motivations behind 2-4 given concrete 'proof' by the card: It's pretty much along the lines she believes in their partnership and Phoenix himself so much she's willing to die for it before betraying him [or letting the blackmail succeed and being a thorn in his side]. The card is proof it's
Phoenix she's believing in to potentially die for, not just 'justice' or something. She's too embarrassed to tell Phoenix something like:
'I believe in you and our partnership even to the death and I'll die before I betray it or you. I would die before betraying you because I totally trust and believe in our partnership. [That picture is concrete evidence of exactly what I was believing in to die for. How embarrassing, you might not feel the same way.]
Phoenix's unwitting 'reply' in 3-5:
OUR relationship is STRONGER than any mere picture. I don't even
need one as 'evidence' to know you would never betray our relationship. You could temporarily look like Dahlia, and I'll still believe and trust in our mutual relationship, to the death and beyond.
No temporary illusion can distract me from the truth of our partnership like it did for others, I know I can believe in
you,
and our relationship which is genuine to the core.
He also 'walks over hot coals for Mystic Maya' like Pearl claimed he would in 2-4 which we assumed was only a 'fairytale' then.
Explanation: Notice what happens when Franzy returns in this game (sans card, Edgeworth called her) and when she's interacting with Phoenix? Maya has channelled Dahlia, and is REPLACED BY DAHLIA'S IMAGE.
Remember Phoenix fell in obsession/love with the 'relationship ideals story/concept' Dahlia told him and attached Dahlia's image to it, then fell in obsession/love with Dahlia as a result? Proof the attaching of the IMAGE to the 'Relationship Concept' is of primary import is a) he transfers the 'love' flawlessly to identical Iris without even noticing. He even just
ignores all Real Iris' pleas for the bottle, as they are inconsistent with his delusional idea from Dahlia. Takes most of the trials in both 3-1 and 3-5 for him to ever suspect anything's even up when Iris is again Dahlia. b) Phoenix doesn't know her real name and terms her 'Dollie' - real names or identity are irrelevant, neither does Terry ('Teen Angel'/'Melissa'/Dahlia)who was also told a similar 'relationship story' surrounding the bottle which he obsessively believes in.
Oh, by the way, from Phoenix and Terry's words and actions in 3-1 and 3-4 the 'fairytale' seemed to include core relationship ideals like this:
We will always trust and believe in each other and our partnership, to the death, and we'll die before we stop trusting or betray each other! We will go to extreme lengths to support each other [like eat evidence, go on trial for murder in our partner's place etc.]
Terry's version follows, Phoenix's one can't have included a literal 'suicide' pact with the poison as the bottle was empty, but he's certainly willing to die before betraying or stopping trusting 'Dollie' until the contract bottle is destroyed:
Fawles:
Five years ago, me and Dahlia... We promised each other...
Fawles:
We swore we wouldn't betray each other...
Fawles:
She brought a memento... To represent... our love.
Fawles:
I-I promised her...
5 years ago...
Fawles:
If it ever happens...
Fawles:
...that we can't trust each other no more...
Then...
Fawles:
...we're supposed to... drink... bottle... Ugh... [aka die instead of not trusting or betraying each other]
[Terry even kills himself over it before he'll stop trusting or believing in the relationship with 'Melissa' and Phoenix seems uncaring if he has to die to save 'Dollie' until he finally abandons his loyalty to the 'relationship' and destroys the 'contract' bottle.]
This all does sound
vaguely familiar.
The Maya-Phoenix partnership was
not initiated around a stupid fairytale or object [the Magatama draws parallels to the Bottle, but is NOT integral to the relationship itself] however in 2-4 Maya appears to believe in the actual partnership and Phoenix every bit as much as Phoenix and Terry did in their 'perfect relationship concept' from Dahlia, to the point she'll die for it if necessary, before betraying him.
She's put her total belief in Phoenix and their 'total dedication/trust partnership' and to give her strength, she draws THE IMAGE she's attached to their relationship concept. The belief in both the relationship/partnership and Phoenix himself is total. It's not just immature belief 'help, Phoenix will save me', oh no. Maya's belief is in their partnership, and Phoenix as a person [even when he himself is suffering identity and moral crisis]. She'll die before betraying their partnership, and she believes in Phoenix to do the right thing, even if it means death for her.
She refuses to betray him by being used as a pawn to blackmail him, [the way Iris just submitted to Dahlia and didn't call for help after in the somewhat parallel 'cavern scene'] and devotes her efforts to getting him the decisive evidence and telling him to pursue justice, not save her. Phoenix and their partnership is what she'll die for, if needed, and drawing
the image she associates with it helps remind her exactly what she's fighting for 'their partnership] and who she'll die for. It's not for 'justice', it's for Phoenix.
Look what happens in 3-1. Dahlia replaces Iris in court, and Phoenix doesn't even notice it's a different person until the end of the trial. And he only notices this
after he's successfully provoked to stop believing in the 'relationship concept/story' and ditched loyalty to it, rather dramatically destroying the bottle symbolic of it into pieces that,
unlike the Urn, can
never be salvaged or repaired. His reliance on a superficial image to conceptualise their relationship and delusions by 'it' has led to his abandonment of belief in the 'relationship story/contract' AND his relationship with Iris. [The fact his intuition correctly senses afterward she might 'not be a murderer' and that might not have been her is irrelevant, he already has severed loyalty to the relationship and knows she betrayed it and the 'contract' surrounding it.] He also doesn't even notice when Iris is again replaced by Dahlia in 3-5.
Iris had two
'adversities' on her part which contribute to Phoenix eventually losing faith in and severing loyalty to their relationship and the 'trust relationship concept' surrounding the bottle, on his part during the trial:
1.Dahlia physically replaces her in court after she 'submits' to her doing so
2. Iris LOOKS LIKE DAHLIA.
In 3-5 Iris again submits to Dahlia replacing her, at Hazakurain and in court, Phoenix is again deluded, only even notices anything is up when she starts to conflict with his belief in MAYA. But even more importantly, like 3-1 Iris, his real 'girlfriend' role char, MAYA, has been literally replaced in court by Dahlia in a similar manner to Iris 3-1, as she is channelling her. [Guess Maya symbolically 'doesn't abandon him', so she unknowingly shows up to court in her unfortunate guise

]
In other words, both 'adversities' Iris suffered in 3-1's trial against Phoenix still believing in their 'relationship contract' are replicated for Maya here!
1. Dahlia has physically replaced her, in court [after Maya was forced to channel her]
2. Most significantly, Maya LOOKS LIKE DAHLIA.
Can Dahlia delude him into stop believing in their mutual trust and belief relationship from his side the way she could in 3-1 when she 'replaced' Iris? Maya has been forced to enact pretty much the same situation on her side.
Unlike 3-1, Phoenix NEVER stops believing in the relationship. Even after Dahlia convinced him Maya was dead, he refused to believe she had ever betrayed their trust partnership. The delusional
tricks of image which successfully sunk Phoenix/Iris from Phoenix's end fails here. [This even alludes Phoenix's belief in his trust partnership with Maya is stronger than his belief in the trust relationship with 'Dollie' was in 3-1.]
The turnabout of 3-5 [exactly where 3-4 failed] from Phoenix's end, is facilitated by two realisations by Phoenix:
a)Maya would never betray him or their dedication/trust partnership. Even if she's dead, [as he very much believes in the 'breakdown'] she didn't betray the trust and loyalty partnership, it's impossible. He
never stops believing in their trust partnership. Since he still believes she never betrayed the partnership, then, he realises, she must actually be alive.
b)the subsequent realisation that Dahlia IS 'replacing' Maya! Aka Phoenix
got it, notably
without ever losing belief in their trust partnership the way he did with Iris in 3-1 over Dahlia's tricks of image. The fact poor Maya LOOKS LIKE DAHLIA can't delude him away from the truth of their relationship like it did for Iris. He can see through the lying image,
their relationship is true to the core.
(Though notice how annoyed he is, cause the 'only thing' he wants is for Dahlia to come out of Maya 'right now!')
The image of Iris may have appeared to lure Phoenix to Hazakurain [especially to Maya, who's oblivious to the background fiasco's memories the image triggered] but Phoenix pretty much says here that no temporary, superficial image can in the end succeed in distracting him from the TRUE relationship with Maya, even when Maya is forced to channel Dahlia.
Note the point he STOPS being properly distracted from the truth by the Dahlia/Iris illusion? Oh, it distracted him long enough to put Maya in mortal danger (doesn't notice criminal activities due to distraction of hood scene and earlier preoccupations) but when he hears there's a murder, ALL HE CARES ABOUT IS MAYA, she 'might' be in danger, so it's instinctive he'll immediately risk his life to protect her [due attempt to cross burning bridge, fully aware of the dangers]
NOT co-incidence that this is precisely the 'fairytale' Pearl came up with at the end of 2-4. "You'd walk over burning hot coals for Mystic Maya". We
thought then it was just a fairytale. No, this is the beginning of Phoenix's 'reply' to Maya's 'card' in 2-4 and the reference just ties it to the case. This then triggers the return of Franziska [the fall lures Edgeworth, who summons Franzy.] (Good things happen [aka Edgeworth's help] when Phoenix chooses which relationship to pursue - the one which is genuine.)
Contrast to 'Dollie':-The image IS important, it's what he fell in love with and associated with the relationship concept, as we saw that it was transferred flawlessly between Dahlia to Iris [and back again]
-he 'forgot' Iris until he saw her
picture and it triggered the memories associated with the fiasco. The Image is apparently essential for associating 'Iris/Dollie in his brain. It's not even a physical body which is important, it's a picture, apparently.
-He STARES at her. [That's the main 'canon' basis]. And she's behind security glass, so still an
image rather than, uh, chemistry.
-When she gets 'replaced' with Dahlia, he doesn't even notice [initial meeting, 3-1, 3-5 AGAIN] and stops believing in the relationship [3-1, destroys bottle himself] while still assuming Dahlia [image] really is girlfriend. Belief in the truth - that was a fake, girlfriend 'isn't a murderer', is only
after he's ditched loyalty to the relationship itself and Mia made him see sense.
-Basically, the whole relationship to Phoenix Is reliant on a picture and association with it, and he can be deluded easily because of it to Phoenix/Iris partnership failure in 3-1 AND 3-5
-Which might be okay,
except that a main theme of the GS3 game IS superficiality of images and appearances. [Dahlia/Iris, Tigre looking the same as Phoenix, Tigre/Viola is a lie, Armstrong's mirrors, Ron appears a weak loser but really
is Mask de Masque, Victor Kudo mistakes one maid costume for another, oblivious to the real person, Godot hiding behind his mask and different name etc.]
(The point of this is NOT 'Iris Bashing' it's clear the return of the 'girlfriend' and 'demon' from the distant past literally forced Phoenix an assessment of his current and future priorities and relationships, which is why discussion of 3-5 just... involves her.)
Other discussion:As well of 3-5 being an attempt to destroy the Phoenix-Maya relationship in the exact same manner as both
3-1 AND 3-4 simultaneously, they also get the same 'tests' as the other relationships seen in the game.
For example, Maggey 'hating' Gumshoe for his well-meaning but required testimony in court in 3-3 is premonition for Maya's forced testimony in 3-5. Unlike Maggey-Gumshoe, Phoenix realises Maya's good intentions and the fact she's basically forced to give testimony in a bad situation and doesn't start 'hating' her or see it as betrayal, their relationship is stronger than that.
In 3-2 even when Pearl thinks Phoenix defending Ron is a 'betrayal' of the 'perfect fairytale' and freaks out, Maya doesn't and says she trusts him. Their relationship is stronger than that, and rooted in reality, not Pearl's impossible fairytale fantasies.
When the Magatama [somewhat symbolic of their trust partnership] is stolen, the relationship doesn't collapse, like it does when the 'bottle' is removed from the Terry/Dahlia or Phoenix/Dollie relationships.
Basically the entire GS3 is one huge test on the Phoenix-Maya partnership, which spectacularly prevails.