Notes – Written as a birthday present for Elena162, who likes the evil!Layton AU a lot. This is set in my own evil!Layton AU based on the future described in the third game, so it should be pretty easy to follow, I hope. Contains spoilers for the third game in a roundabout sort of way, so read with caution.
You got caught and you died. If you were lucky.
There were so many rebels who stood up against the tyrant that ruled London. Once upon a time they'd just been political activists, protesting against the unfair changes that had been made to the system. Clive missed those days. But at some point the first stone had been thrown – London's benevolent ruler had showed exactly what he thought of those who disagreed with him. And the people who weren't afraid to stand up for what they believed in responded with the same violence they had been shown, turning from protestors into freedom fighters.
But so many more people were too scared to act at all and as time went on more people who did fight were caught and killed. There were less people to stand against the new laws, less people to stand against Hershel Layton.
Most of the rebels never even got to see him in person; they were killed in the silence of the streets. Once again, Clive wished he was one of those people.
He knew that he'd never be let die so easily though, not after all the trouble he'd caused over the years.
Because Clive knew too much.
He knew about the explosion, he knew about the labs, he knew about Bill Hawks, he knew about Dimitri's plans for the time machine and how Layton had provided him with the resources that he needed, because they were both obsessed with the possibility of saving that one girl. That much knowledge had been dangerous and Clive prided himself on being a thorn in Layton's side for so long by making sure other knew why their ruler was doing what he did.
That all ended today, however, as the man who had once been known as a kindly professor entered the cell where Clive was chained.
"Well now, it appears that you are not as quick as you once were, Clive, for my men to have cornered you at last," he sneered, looking down on the shorter man.
"It took them long enough to catch me though," Clive answered, glaring.
"You have proven… troublesome," agreed Layton, "Quite so. But that will end today."
"So just kill me now and get it over with!" shot Clive.
Layton laughed at this; "Kill you? You must be stupid if you think I'm going to let you off so easily."
"I should have guessed that you'd drag this out," Clive replied, hoping very hard that he could remain neutral enough to not give this man any satisfaction from watching the suffering he undoubtedly had planned for him, "And by the way, that monocle does not suit you at all."
He felt Layton's hand slap the side of his face. It stung instantly. Apparently a line had been crossed with that comment.
"You know nothing of style, boy," sighed Layton, straightening the monocle that covered one of his eyes.
"Yeah, I bet Dimitri likes it just fine," Clive mocked, still glaring up at him.
"Dimitri is a foolish man who thinks of nothing but his time machine and saving his beloved woman. He is a tool, Clive, one that I will dispose of when I'm finished using him," Layton informed.
Two things went through Clive's mind upon hearing this – firstly the shock that Layton apparently didn't care as much about the time machine as Dimitri did and secondly for him to even be telling Clive this that it must mean he wasn't going to keep him around long enough for Dimitri to ever find out that Layton was using him.
"So if not for her then what-"
Clive was cut off midsentence by Layton's hand trailing up the side of his face. The touch felt deceptively warm and tender, but he knew there was nothing at all tender about this monster. He could have been fooled, however, as Layton moved closer to him, their faces almost touching.
"Professor…"
That word came out by mistake and Clive instantly regretted saying it, as Layton broke into a sinister grin.
"It's been such a long time since anyone's called me that. You use it in such an affectionate manner, just like Luke did. Just like everyone did, really," Layton said, eyes not breaking contact with Clive's. It was unnerving to say the least.
"Believe me I'd never call you anything affectionate on purpose!" Clive snapped.
The hand that had been stroking his face now gripped it tightly, fingers digging into his skin painfully.
"I will teach you manners if I must, Clive," whispered Layton.
Then the gap between them was broken, Layton leaning in just that tiny bit further to press his lips against Clive's and despite everything it felt… so… good. After a moment the other man's tongue entered his mouth and Clive did nothing to stop that. He wanted to think it was because of the shock, ignoring his own moaning and longing as it went on. The moment was sadly ended as Layton pulled back enough to bite at Clive's lip, the stinging sensation jolting him back to reality.
Moving away from him and wiping the saliva from his mouth, Layton commented, "You're so easy."
"I am not!" yelled Clive, struggling against the chains.
"The evidence says otherwise," purred Layton, breaking the eye contact just for a moment to glance down before looking back across to him.
"You're sick! You're a twisted man and I want you just to get it over with and dispose of me," Clive replied.
"Are you not listening at all, boy? I said just before that I don't intend to kill you and that's something I'm sticking to. If you meet my conditions," said Layton, chuckling low in his throat.
"Conditions? I'd never do anything you want!"
Was this insane man planning to keep Clive alive as a pet out of some sort of sick pleasure? That was the last thing that he wanted. He'd rather be killed outright then let Layton get any sort of satisfaction out of keeping him living.
"It would be considered polite for you to hear my terms before making your decision," said Layton, examining his nails as he spoke.
"Very well then, what could you possibly want from me?" asked Clive, knowing that any further arguing would just prolong his fate.
"You've been so problematic over the years," replied Layton, "If it wasn't for you then the people might have trusted me more, or at least less of them would know of what I'm up to at any rate. My forces have been damaged because of you and you've led any who oppose my rule quite well, if I do say so myself."
"I want to know what you want from me, not my life story," Clive growled.
"Always direct. Then I shall skip to the point," said Layton, "To kill such a cunning mind as yours would be wasteful on my part. And so, I've decided to request that you work for me exclusively."
"Are you mad? I'd never work for you! I've been trying to knock you off your pedestal for years!" Clive spat. The whole notion was so absurd that it was nearly laughable.
Layton tutted, replying, "I'm not as blind as you think. Once Bill Hawks was defeated you were initially as happy as everyone else. You knew what he'd done and I daresay that if I hadn't acted then you'd have done something equally as drastic on your own to stop that man."
That was true, but he wasn't going to let Layton know that.
"Your actions after replacing Bill Hawks was what lost any respect I might have had for you," Clive informed.
"Then it's such a shame we're not on the same page," said Layton, "Because you will be kept here and tortured appropriately until you break and agreed to my terms."
"I didn't say that-"
"You've said enough for one day, I tire of your voice," dismissed Layton, turning to leave. As his shadow was framed against the door he clicked his fingers and two guards came through.
Clive soon found out what the guards were there for.
The days that followed contained such torture that he wished he could die, but these people were under commands to keep him alive. As those days turned into weeks Clive just wanted to not wake up one morning, to end it all out of spite, but he never got that lucky. Not that he felt any of the rebels who were killed outright were lucky anymore – the guards provided him with news of how badly the rebels were doing without a leader in an attempt to break his spirit.
They had little idea of how well that worked.
But their employer knew perfectly, timing it exactly right for his second visit to Clive's cell.
"Good day, my boy, I do hope that my guards have treated you well," Layton cheerfully commented as he walked over.
He didn't even get a response; Clive was too weak to acknowledge him after everything that had happened in the past few weeks.
"You must be so tired," Layton continued, "I hope you're in a position to reconsider my offer."
The old Clive would have spat in his face and Layton knew it, but this one was so broken that all he could do was look up, eyes too dry to produce the tears that they wanted to.
"All you'd have to do is say the word and the torture will stop. You will become one of my own, answering to my orders and living in the comfort that all of my closest followers do," reminded Layton.
And when I stop being useful you'll kill me just like you plan on doing with Dimitri, Clive's mind added.
"So, my dear Clive, what will your answer be? Will you join my rule?" Layton requested.
He moved closer and for the second time Clive felt the lips of this man against his own. He was evil and he was wrong but his kiss was so good. It was the only affection that anyone had shown Clive in such a long time, even before he'd been caught, and just for this moment he wanted it.
Working with Layton was the ultimate sin. If the professor wasn't doing all this to save Claire, if his madness wasn't born from love, then what was he even doing it for? Clive had no idea what this dangerous creature was doing and what he'd even want from him.
There was no way that he could do this; he could never betray those who believed in him. He'd just have to go back to living with this seemingly eternal torture.
Layton pulled away from the kiss, Clive not wanting their lips to part. But when they did the professor wanted an answer.
"So will you belong to me, Clive?" Layton repeated.
There was really only one answer.
"Yes."