A/N: Okay, so here's a little piece on Claire's POV when she sees the Professor that first time on the street as they're passing each other 10 years after the fatal explosion.
Disclaimer: I do not own Professor Layton at all.
I see him. He's coming down the street. The top hat I gave him so long ago is still perched upon his head. Because a true gentleman never takes off his hat, now does he?
I'm keeping my head low, trying to get him to ignore me. But I feel that bubbling excitement boiling in my heart and making me want to cry out and tell him that it's me. I want to tell him who I am. I want to be nestled in his arms for the rest of the time I have.
No. Posture. I have to keep focused.
My mind is whirling and I'm hiding in the thickest parts of the massive crowd, hoping he doesn't see me. If he sees me for real, he'd know. He of all people would know. He loved me once. And if those feelings hadn't yet faded, he would still know it was me, no matter how hard I tried to hide myself in the swirling whirlpool of bodies.
I quietly slip through the throngs of people, hoping for the best. Has he seen me? Does he feel the same way I do? Are his emotions raging like a wildfire as mine are? Does he even know it's me?
His top hat is still cutting through the crowd and I see that he had a young boy at his side as I can finally see him in full-view.
He looks as dapper as ever. Those dark eyes and that soft smile that only a true gentleman can wear in that right sort of fashion. I have to say I'm grateful for having loved him once and I would've kept on loving him had I been able to stay in his field of time.
Suddenly, I'm passing him and he's freezing in his tracks like he's just been pricked by an invisible needle. I manage to pick up my pace just a little bit, not wanting him to see me but not disappearing to fast so to be suspicious. I don't want him to see me. Not yet, at least. I don't want him to know. I want to be able to tell him on my own terms. I want to see Hershel again. Not just as a passerby, but for real, in my own time, back in the days when we used to be able to love each other without time keeping us separate.
"Professor?" comes the young boy's voice and I'm already rounding a corner, ducking out of sight. I don't want him to see me. Not yet. Not quite. I love him too much to let him see me as just another passerby.
So I move along, heart aching with the longing of seeing him again and being able to speak to him truly. I just want to know that he hasn't forgotten who I am. But when I see him again for the first time in ten years, I'll be able to tell him outright what happened that day. And I'll get to be able to have him hold me for one last time. One last time... before I leave. For good this time.
A/N: Ah, short and heartbreaking because we all know what comes next. Please review.
~Sky
