ITS HERE FINALLY. Sorry for the /colossal/ wait, school has been bombarding me. While rewriting this fic, I realized that things would progress much smoother if this were not a shipfic, but you can interpret anything the way you wish to! Yeah. I hope you enjoy this rewrite! I didn't change this chapter much at all because I was surprisingly satisfied with how I wrote it.
"Luke, would you mind releasing those poor snails back to where they came from?" Professor Layton lifted his feet as a snail slowly attempted to trek across the table they were resting on. Early that day, Luke had gone outside and collected seven snails when it had rained. "A true gentleman never disturbs nature unless necessary."
Looking up from his puzzle, said boy had nodded and collected the snails back into the jar before adjusting his blue hat and slipping on his (now dirty) shoes. "Alright professor, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Since the events of their last adventure, about four years have passed and Luke had moved back to London a year back. He was now a bright eighteen year old boy who never really matured that much from his big move to America. Though appearance wise, he has grown to be a fairly strong, tall young man (inheriting Clark's height).
As of recently, talk had been rising about a certain man who was responsible for the kidnapping of Bill Hawks. However in the Layton household such conversation was quickly rerouted. Even Flora (whose cooking still made a strong adult gag), had decided to try erasing the day from her memory and would have none of it.
Was it because he was gone? Up and disappeared from existence? Either way, no one talked and no one had ever discovered the true secret of Bill Hawks. Meaning, yes, he was still prime minister.
The sun started seeping out through the clouds by the time Luke had returned all of the snails. His wristwatch confirmed that it was about five in the afternoon, and that he had been outside for about half an hour.
"Oh shoot, I've been out way longer than what I told the professor! I hope he doesn't get worried.." Luke muttered under his breath before preparing to run back to the small house that he, the professor, and Flora shared.
Unfortunately, a suspicious plant had other plans, "Oh, ew-!" The plant had shuffled slightly before remaining still once more. Luke raised and eyebrow and slowly turned around, seeing that the potted plant that adorned one of the various flower gardens had somehow moved farther away from the place where he had released the snails.
After thinking for a second, Luke picked up a snail, placed it in his hand, and slowly approached the potted thing before a human jumped out from behind it and backed away.
"D-don't bring that snail any closer-!" The person attempted to intimidate him, but failed miserably.
Well, would have failed miserably if only it were any other person, other than Clive Dove. Who was the young man standing in front of Luke.
At first he was astonished, then he was wary of the older male. He slowly let the snail crawl back into the muddy garden while sustaining eye contact with the other. For some reason, Luke couldn't quite trace Clive's emotions at the moment before possibly seeing a flicker of joy.
"Finally, Luke Triton. I see you recognize me. It's been so hard to talk to anyone lately, they would just ignore me." He tipped his head as if the events of four years back never existed.
"Clive Dove, I see you haven't aged a day since our last meeting." Luke attempted at offering a compliment, but instead it seemed to just irritate the other.
Confused, he decided not to push it, "Wh.. what are you doing here? I thought-" He was immediately cut off before he said the rest.
"Well, one can't simply believe everything they see in the media these days, can they? And I'm here to ask for assistance." Clive frowned, "I know you may not be willing to accept my apology, but I ask that you hear me out.
"Four years ago, I committed a great sin onto our innocent city and nearly caused a huge calamity that would have completely demolished the way of life for everyone in London. I apologize, and I'm sincerely thankful that the professor was there to stop me in time." He sighed, signaling the end of his apology. Luke frowned at the ending bit of his apology.
"But in return, the fortress was demolished!" Luke replied astonished, as Clive simply replied with a "Yeah, so?"
"... You know what, nevermind.. I forgive you, ON- on- on one condition." He emphasized the last part when he could literally feel joy bouncing off of the other. "You need to show sincere proof that you've changed your ways."
"Deal." Clive extended his right hand before Luke hesitated and finally accepted it. He awkwardly led the other to Layton's place where the three had lived as a family, and put his hand on the brass door knob before Clive quickly placed his on top of it,
"Wait, I think we should talk a bit privately before this." He sounded a bit worried. By now, the rain had returned to slowly douse the two standing outside the front door; when Layton abruptly swung it open, knocking Clive in the face.
"Oh hello, Luke. I thought I heard your voice out here, please hurry inside before you catch a cold!" Layton gestured his arm in a "hurry inside!" motion and Luke helped Clive stand back up before stepping inside.
"H'm? Luke, what are you doing?" Layton frowned when he saw the other fussing over Clive's bloody nose.
"Er, professor I have no way of explaining this at the moment, let me tend to this bloody nose first please." Luke didn't exactly have a way of words and hurried inside before the professor was able to ask any questions. Flora stared at the duo from the couch in the living room until they disappeared up the wooden stairs. "What is up with him today..? Bloody nose? He looked perfectly fine to me!" Nineteen year old Flora looked up slowly from the large, hardcover novel she sported in her hands.
Layton shook his head concerningly, "I'm not quite sure, but I intend to figure it out. First things first, though. Would you like a cup of Earl Grey tea, Flora?" She nodded gratefully, then turned to look at the rain loudly splattering the window.
"I hope he hasn't caught something awful from being outside." Turning back to her book, she continued to flip the yellowed pages.
Layton sighed and placed the saucer and teacup on the small coffee table across from her, "As I said, I'm not sure.. Dear Flora, would you like to know a small fact about today?" She faced Layton and nodded hesitantly, signaling for him to continue though she already had an inkling suspicion of where he was going.
"Today's the anniversary of our last adventure. The one with the Underground London, and Clive Dove's colossal machine." His face took on a grim expression.
"And the same colossal machine he was killed in that day."