Notes – Written for a kinkmeme response to a prompt that wanted one of the villains to realise that challenging Layton's brain just doesn't work out for them and to go for the mindless violence approach to try defeating him instead. A slight AU, set just as Layton and Luke are approaching Anton's castle in the second game with heavy spoilers for that game.
The wind had a deathly chill to it tonight, really not appropriate for old bones at all. Not that the present Duke of Folsense had any idea exactly how old his bones were truly, even Nigel was having trouble remembering what was real and what wasn't these days, but it had been such a long time since Anton had ventured outside of the castle that Nigel was beginning to worry.
"Don't you feel that we should be waiting inside, sir?" Nigel pressed; in that well-meaning way butlers did when trying to suggest that their employer's current decisions were anything less than sound.
"Of course not, Nigel, because then he would get through to the castle to greet me there," Anton calmly replied.
"But sir, the ice just behind us makes it nigh impossible to cross the lake at this time of year. They will never reach you," said Nigel.
Anton turned to look at him, shaking his head in pity; "I would like to have thought that as well. But I've observed this man, this Layton. At first when I saw him with my dear Sophia it filled me with rage that this was the person she had left me for, but the more I watched him the more I saw of the sort of man he was. He solves puzzles, just because people ask him to. He willingly works out the things that their brains are too lazy to see for themselves because he enjoys it. If I wait for Layton to reach me at the castle then he will undoubtedly find a way across the ice." He paused thoughtfully, and then added, "You know, I had prepared a display of swords. They were all fake, save for one. I was going to challenge him to pick out the real sword, but I see now that there would be no point – because he would simply guess right. So he gets no chances and no sword. I, on the other hand, have a sword."
He removed his blade from the holder, tilting it to admire its sheen.
At this point Nigel thought to himself that he was a little afraid. Anton was mad, that was for sure, but as a butler it was his duty to serve, regardless of the sanity of the man he worked for. However, the fact that Anton had been observing Layton without even Nigel realising and from that observation had come up with the notion of scraping all the sensibly laid out traps in favour of this direct approach was worrying.
"Here he is now," came Anton's voice, snapping him out of his thoughts, "And he's brought my dear Sophia with him. Greetings to you, Hershel Layton."
The professor had indeed arrived in the time they had been talking, followed closely by the young boy Luke and the purple-haired girl that Anton was so convinced was the Sophia he had pined over for so long.
"You are the current Duke of Folsense, Anton Herzen?" Layton called over from where he stood, looking extremely distrusting of him, "We need to have a few words about-"
"No, Layton, we do not need to have a few words!" Anton snapped, "You come here bringing my beloved as a trophy and expect me to listen to anything you say? No. The only thing we need to do is fight for her!"
"I believe you are very confused," Layton replied.
This was followed closely by, "Watch out, professah!" from Luke and a scream from Katia as Anton charged forward, blade held firmly ahead.
The professor just managed to dart of the way, but not without his jacket and shirt being slashed. He winced, gripping at his side. It appeared that the sword had grazed his skin quite deeply, but that wasn't the most important thing right now. Looking up, he saw that Luke and Katia had both moved safely out of the way. Thank goodness, the last thing he wanted was anyone else hurt. That was what was most important to him.
Scattering the little group of three had been exactly what Anton had wanted too, because now he had Layton on his own with no risk of harm coming to Sophia. He'd deal with the boy afterwards.
Not giving Layton a chance to recover, he charged again, this time going for the face. Once more, Layton's reflexes were as fast as his puzzle solving skills, but not fast enough to avoid damage completely. A neat gash was left across his cheek, but he had to just grit his teeth and bear it – seeing as his hand was already clutched firmly to the side that Anton had sliced earlier. It seemed to be producing more blood than was normal for a cut that size. Layton hoped that it wasn't worse than he was assuming it was.
He had to think, there was no time for loitering around like an injured animal waiting for a predator to pick it off slowly. There was also no weapon in sight for him while his opponent had a weapon. There had to do something to counter that if he was going to stand a chance.
Backing towards the trees, Layton ducked down convincingly enough to fool Anton into believing that he was falling from his injury. That was all that Anton needed to come in for a third try with the sword.
Waiting for just the right moment, the split second before Anton could strike; Layton pulled his free hand out from behind his back, now clutching the first fallen branch he could get hold of. It wasn't very effective against the metal of the sword, but it was effective enough to block the blade from hitting him, as well as giving Anton quite a shock. The branch in question still had many leaves attached to it, which scraped across Anton's face, making him jump back, spitting and growling.
As Anton staggered he was grabbed from behind, just seeing a flash of blue before his sword was snatched from his barely resisting hands and Luke was running away with it.
"Bring that back, boy!" he yelled, before feeling the prickle of the branch against his back.
Layton held it forward, the only weapon he had over Anton's loss of one, muttering, "I don't have any desire to hurt you. We are simply here researching the Elysian Box."
Anton wasn't hearing any of this, spinning around to kick Layton hard in the same side that he'd cut earlier with enough force to knock the man to the floor. Darting over, Anton stamped on the wound, pressing down and admiring the way the blood seeped out of it. The professor cried out in pain, pain that he deserved for stealing Sophia away.
"Grandfather, stop!" Katia called out.
"Grandfather…?" he turned to look at her in disbelief. Why would Sophia refer to him in such a manner?
"I'm not who you think I am," she said, rushing over, "I'm not Sophia, I'm her granddaughter come here to find you."
"That cannot be… You are a young woman," Anton murmured. She looked exactly the same age as Sophia. There was no way that Sophia could have even had a daughter that age, let alone a granddaughter.
"Fifty years have past since my grandmother left Folsense, to protect my mother from the disease," Katia told him, "Now please, let this man up so we can get him help…"
"No! No, this is a lie!" roared Anton, "You are Sophia and this Layton stole you away from me! I will have my revenge!"
He bore down to throttle Layton, but before he could even get that close Katia knocked him out of the way, misjudging enough for them to both land on the ice that the fight had driven them so close to. He heard a loud crack and felt the ice give out under the impact, sending both of them drifting down into the lake.
This water was too cold for old bones.
He held his hand out in front of his face as the world drifted past him at a distortedly slow pace. When had his skin become so wrinkled? Why was Sophia's hair so short now?
Why… why hadn't he listened to reason before it was too late?
Turning his head to look at Katia, whose eyes were closed from the impact, he truly saw his granddaughter for the first time and smiled. At least if he was falling to his death he would finally be with the family he'd lost so long ago.
But fate wasn't finished with him just yet.
He felt a sharp tug on his arm and looked up to see Layton, attempting to pull them out of water, which was now turning a diluted red colour as the blood from Layton's injuries mixed with it.
There was no way the man could do it on his own, so Anton pulled together the last of the strength in his old body, helping to get Katia up to safety, where Luke and an also suddenly older looking Nigel were waiting to bring them onto dry land.
"Professor, you need t' rest now!" Luke shouted, "If you lose anymore blood then…"
Layton nodded mutely, already too woozy from the combination of the damage and the chill of the water to make much of a response.
"Why did you do it?" Anton said, feeling how raspy the voice that came from his now ancient throat now was, "After I tried to kill you."
"Because… that is what a gentleman does…" Layton managed, "Now, Luke… it appears Katia has… fallen unconscious from the impact… You need to get her help…"
"You're one t' talk!" Luke shot, already trying to cover the wound on Layton's side with his sweater to stop more blood loss.
"Nigel, please rally the villagers," Anton said quickly.
It was a wonder that any of them came at all, after years of the vampire rumours that Anton had implanted into the village himself, but apparently Layton had indeed helped a lot of people and their desire to help him in return outweighed their fear of the alleged vampire. Soon enough they were taken to the help they needed, Layton's injuries being dressed properly, Katia seemingly fine once she had woken up, and Anton being dried off, because it was shameful that 'such a poor old man' like him was left soaking wet at this time of year. He'd catch his death of chill, they said.
He had no doubt now that he was an old man, but at the same time up until he'd fallen into the water he'd been the youth that he always had been. While be believed much of what Katia had gone on to tell him when she had woken up about what became of Sophia, this fact alone puzzled him.
So he went to ask the one person who was good at figuring things out.
Layton lay in a hospital bed, smiling warmly as Anton entered the room regardless of what Anton had done to him earlier. Privately, Anton felt a small amount of guilty pride for the amount of pain he'd inflicted upon this man when so many others had failed beforehand due to challenging his knowledge.
"To what do I owe the honour?" Layton asked quietly.
"You must already know," said Anton, "There is still so much that needs to be explained. Fifty years have gone by but I do not remember them passing at all."
"I think you did feel the years go by at least, as you waited so long for the person you loved to return to you," Layton said, "But as for why you did not age, well… I had a theory about that. Your falling into the lake was oddly what confirmed it."
"Do tell," Anton pressed.
So Layton continued; "The mines your family owns. Gold wasn't the only thing that came from them. They've been producing hallucinogenic gas that clouded the judgments of both yourself and your butler Nigel. As unbelievable as this may seem, the shock of the ice cold water was what knocked you to your senses from the gas. I believe the gas was powerful enough to affect all of us, as although I didn't realize it until we were being escorted back to the village, both Luke and Nigel, neither of whom affected by the water, still saw you as a young man. Of course, now the effect has worn off, but I gather it was quite a shock for Nigel to discover he was actually much older than he always thought that he was."
"He's not the only one," added Anton, laughing bitterly.
All this time he had been under the influence of a gas that made him feel that he was still a young man, his own stubbornness preventing him from leaving to find out the truth. Stopping him from being with his Sophia before she passed away…
"It's too late for me now," he sighed.
"Nonsense; you still have a charming granddaughter who came to find you," Layton replied, "I'm sure you'll both want to get to know one another now this is all over."
"Of course," said Anton, "And I must take action to prevent that gas from affecting anyone further. But before I do, there is one thing I must know. Has anyone else ever hurt you as much as I did?"
Layton laughed, and then clutched at his side where the stitches still stung.
"You probably won't be surprised to hear this, but I've made a lot of enemies in my time. However, your brutal approach was indeed effective," he said, leaving it up to Anton to decide if that meant he'd hurt Layton more than anyone else had done or not.
"Yes, well I'm glad to have come so close to beating you, honestly," Anton said, clearly reading what he wanted between the lines, "Now I shall let you rest. I have much to catch up on with my family and people."
"Good luck then," Layton hummed, lying back to rest.
Anton walked away from the hospital ward.
These old bones of his might not be fit for the cold weather, but he could still put them to good use when to came to battles, it would seem.