It was finally over. Clive Dove and his mobile fortress had been subjugated, but at what cost? From the small side street where the three of them were, the smell of smoke and burning flesh was faint on the air. To add to the insult, the sounds of whirling police sirens and the civilians shouting and screaming in a frenzy. Yet all was calm around them, the noises were distant, as if from another world. Luke gave the Professor and Celeste, now Claire, their privacy, kicking a loose rock around away from them.
"I suppose this is it, Hershel." Claire said, after a long, meaningful silence between the parted lovers. "I have to go back to my own time. Back to that day when-" Her delicate neck pulsed as her swallowed back her emotions, knowing what horrors awaited her in the next few minutes. "When we parted."
"No, Claire…" Hershel mumbled, his usual calm exterior starting to crumble, his grief written on every inch of his handsome face.
"I'm sorry I can't stay," Claire's voice sighed, shaking as if on the verge of tears. She approached him and places her hands, softly balled up in fists, on his chest. Layton put his own hands on her shoulders, and they pulled each other close. Claire nuzzling her face into the crook between his pectoral muscles, taking in his scent one last time. Layton rested his head against hers, taking in that slight soapy smell from shampoo. Both of them wished that their embrace would last forever, until time stopped ticking. But such a fate was not possible for the pair. Claire pulled away from him slightly and put her hand on his cheek, reaching up to kiss him. Their lips pressed together silently, what was only a short wait for Claire, had been a ten year fast for Hershel, and he relished feeling those lips again, like a soldier returning home from the front. His eyes opened in surprise when her body fell away from his, and slowly walked away. Layton went to say something, but the lump of emotions in his throat was too big.
'A gentleman must never cause a scene.' Hershel's mind immediately intruded. Too hell with it, this is Claire!'
"Claire, wait!" Her lithe body stopped where it stood as he pleaded. Slowly, she turned around to face her lover. Her body started to glow, and become translucent. It was a shock for Layton and Luke, but Claire was almost expecting it, looking at her shining body as if it were a usual thing.
"We had so many… plans for the future. Do you remember, Hershel? I'll-I'll miss you." Her voice cracked for a second, tears welling in her eyes. "And our… Lost Future." Hershel was also on the verge of crying,
"You… Can't go!" The Professor finally shouted, causing Claire to gasp in astonishment. "I don't want to say goodbye again. I can't I WON'T!" Despite the tears in her eyes, Claire smiled, proud that her once fiancée had finally let out his emotions and pain to her.
"I know you," she replied, "And I know you'll stay strong. After all…"
'Please don't say it. For the love of God don't…"
"That's what a gentleman does. I must go now, Hershel. Thank you for everything. Goodbye…" Claire turned and walked away from her lover, not stopping to turn and look back as she turned the corner.
"Huh?" Luke mumbled, finally waking up from his daydream. The boy ran as fast as he could after her, his rucksack bouncing around on his shoulder. He past the Professor, who only stood looking solemnly down at the cobblestone path. Luke got the corner where she turned, he stood confused for a few seconds, the gasped, and slackened his stance, realising what had happened.
"She's gone." Was all that he said. This caused Layton to turn away from his apprentice, and he cried quietly to himself, his shoulders to shake as the tears slid down his face. Despite the fires across the city, snow began to petal down from the sky, and Hershel Layton took of his hat that Claire gave him, looking up at the starry night…
.
.
Luke left the tiny street and went to Flora's side, as everyone else was waiting for the two. Layton followed him slowly, taking slow, sad steps.
"Is she…" Dimitri started, seeing the Professor's sullen face, and his had by his side.
"She- she's gone. Back to her own time."
"Wait, what does that mean?" Don Paolo asked, looking at the two men and their depressed looks. "Dim, why are you taking your hat of? Don't tell me-" the confused look on his face tuned to stunned surprise, and then horror, discerning the truth. "When, when did she go back to?"
"Back to when she was flung ten years into the future. The very moment of the blast." Paolo looked at the both of them, his face growing twisted as tears began to cloud his vision.
"So she's- no. No that can't be!" He rushed forward and grabbed Layton by the collar of his shirt. "Why didn't you stop her, Layton!? Why didn't you save her? Noooo!" He began to wail loudly, tears and snot flowing down his face, and his moustache. His usual grumpy and hostile demeanour was replaced by a bawling, howling child, sobbing in agony. Layton just stood there, staring blankly past him. Of all the people to comfort the professional doppelgänger, Flora was the one who knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. Don Paolo wrapped his arms around the girl tightly, burying his head into her shoulder. Luke went to intervene, Constable Barton held him back.
"Mr. Paolo needs to let it out. Leave him." Barton might not have been the best police officer, but his heart was certainly in the right place.
.
.
After almost ten minutes of Paolo's tears, he had calmed down, Flora having hummed to him softly to help calm him. After quietly thanking her, and patting the statue-still Professor on the shoulder, he walked into a nearby alley, hiding in the shadows as he usually did.
"I had better go after him," Dimitri said, shaking Chelmey's and Hershel's hands. "Better make sure he'll be alright." Before he followed Paolo, he pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Luke.
"Call me if he gets worse." And with that, Dimitri Allen followed Don Paolo, disappearing into the shadows that they'd been living in for so long…
"Come on, let's go home." Hershel finally said, looking at the two children under his care. "I'd better call your parents Luke, them them you're okay." Luke, Layton, and Flora went to his car, now in normal driving mode, and drove quietly back home.
