Author's Note: This is quite spoilery for Azran Legacies, as in "I can't believe... why?... Noooooo!"... You have been warned. I hope you enjoy it, and sorry for blathering on like a blatherface, I can't help it!
"Breathe..." Emmy whispered to herself. "You can do this... just breathe..." She raised a small hand to the wooden door of the building that loomed before her like some sort of mountain. It shouldn't have been so terrifying, and it wasn't really, but Emmy was still shaking with nerves. She had been to this house often enough to be able to visualise it's contents without difficulty, even though it had been around four years since she had visited last. Try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to knock, and let her fist fall back to her side. She sighed and leaned against the bricked wall, trying to clear her head. She couldn't. The last time she had spoken to this man, she had betrayed him, hurt him, and then just left. He had every right to reject her when he saw her, and she even expected it, but that didn't mean that she wasn't scared of it.
Managing to build up a small amount of courage, Emmy again raised a clenched fist to the door and this time succeeded, albeit quietly, in knocking. There was no answer. She knocked again, and louder, but still to no avail. She felt a level of annoyance rise up in her, and she scolded herself for just expecting the professor to magically be here. He was a busy man. She sighed, almost relieved that she wouldn't have to confront the professor today, when she heard the unmistakable sound of a very specific car pull up behind her. It was the laytomobile. She whipped her head round and sure enough, the rickety old car had parked, with London's favourite gentleman preparing to climb out. That car had taken the trio on so many adventures, it was a wonder that it still worked. She missed the old, comfy seats and the slightly musty smell of the professor's car, though to be honest she missed the professor more. His eyes widened when he noticed her standing there, and he took a step back.
"Is it... could it really be...?" He breathed.
Emmy smiled, and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Nice to see you again... Professor Layton!"
"I can't believe it... after all this time..." Layton handed Emmy a cup of tea and sat down beside her on the sofa.
"Well, I thought I'd come and see how you and Luke are doing! I hope you don't mind... Speaking of Luke, where is he? I thought you two were inseparable!" Emmy laughed and sipped her tea, the professor always managed to get the balance between the milk and sugar just right.
He looked down. "Luke... left for America with his family a few weeks ago." A pained expression was on his face.
"Oh..." There was an awkward silence. Emmy looked up and smiled. "...but I hear you adopted a daughter after I left!"
"Yes, but she's visiting her home village - St. Mystere - at the moment. So I am alone..." the professor smiled a sad sort of smile then continued. "I missed you, after you left, you know. So did Luke. The betrayal... it shook him quite a bit..." Emmy felt a pang of guilt hit her stomach, but she replied indignantly. "
It wasn't my fault." Her expression had gone from excited to stony.
"I wasn't trying to place the blame on you, I-" Layton tried to retrieve the situation, but Emmy butted in.
"It sure felt like you were. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I didn't have a choice? Or maybe I didn't know it would end like... like that? Well?" She looked him straight in the eye, and he felt a rising anger at her statements. He usually could cope with this sort of thing from his students, but he was tired after a day of teaching and not at all in the mood for such things coming from a grown woman.
"You could have stopped Bronev, you know! People died!" He didn't mean for it to come out in such a cruel tone, but it obviously hit hard.
"He had gone mad! I tried to stop uncle Leon, I really did! Do you think I had just stood by and let it all happen?!" Emmy's face flushed with anger.
The professor was unusually angry about the subject and he wasn't really sure why."But why did you have to come with me?!" He retaliated. "Do you know how much pain that caused me!? Not to mention Luke! You tore his life apart! When he left, he still cried for you. He cried because moving to America meant he would never see you again, he loved you as if you were his mother and then you betrayed us like that!" He knew this would have a strong effect, and he no longer cared how ungentlemanly he was being. He had had enough.
"I'll have you know I had no idea that it would end up causing so much grief! I was upset to leave as well, you know! But by the time I had realised -"
"YOU HURT US, EMMY! YOU CAME INTO OUR LIVES AND ACTED AS THOUGH YOU CARED, AND THEN YOU JUST WALTZED OUT LIKE NOTHING HAD HAPPENED! To think all those times you laughed with us, all those times we shared, they were just a charade to get information..." He was in full swing now and he didn't want to listen to any stupid explanations. He wanted a real answer.
"IT WASN'T LIKE THAT!" She yelled.
"Well then why did you agree to follow us around all the time?!"
"BECAUSE I LOVED YOU, OK?!" This caught the professor off guard, but Emmy didn't notice. "YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME WE MET! WELL I DO! IT CHANGED MY LIFE, AND WHEN UNCLE LEON GAVE ME THE OPPERTUNITY TO TRAVEL WITH YOU, I TOOK IT. I WANTED TO SEE YOU AGAIN! IS THAT SO BAD?!" She slowed down a bit after saying this and looked at the floor. "... My parents died when I was about ten. They were killed in a train crash, but then I met uncle Leon. I was on the streets, and he took me in. I was travelling with you and I got too attached. When I told him I didn't want to become a traitor... He reminded me what I owed him. I couldn't just stop. It had gone too far the minute I joined you in your car on my first day." She had by this time ended up with her back against the door of the sitting room. "But I'm sorry." She spat. "I'm sorry I ever even thought about loving you. I wish I'd never even come here today, then you could have gone on with your perfect little life and you wouldn't have to cope with this madwoman screaming in your face..." Tears streamed down her cheeks and she slid to the floor crying. The professor stood in silence for a while, unsure of what to say, and watched Emmy's shoulders shaking jerkily as she sobbed into her own lap.
"You... love me?" He eventually spoke, but very quietly and almost timidly. There was no answer. "W...why?" Emmy looked up, her face streaked with tears.
"Because... because... oh, I don't know! You're smart and gorgeous and gentlemanly and basically just perfect and I know you don't think so but it's true!" Her last sentence was spoken in a single breath, and she had to pause before continuing. "I just wish... I just wish I could be enough for you." She rose to her feet and wiped the tears from her face. "I... I think it would be best if I leave..." and she headed into the hall and towards the doorway. The moment her hand touched the handle, Layton suddenly realised what she was doing and ran towards her.
"Emmy! Wait!" He yelled desperately. She turned around, new tears in her eyes were threatening to fall.
"I've embarrassed myself enough today. But I'm sorry. Sorry I caused you all that pain back then, sorry I'm here sobbing on your doorstep now. I must look insane. Sometimes I think I am, especially now. I can't believe I let myself think for one second that you'd just take me back. I feel stupid. Please let me leave in peace." Her tone was flat and monotonous now. He looked into her eyes, those beautiful eyes racked with a spectrum of emotions under the guise of numbness, and he could not stop himself. He leaned forward and placed a tentative kiss on her soft lips. There was a stunned silence, then the professor broke it.
"You are more than enough for me, Emmy Altava. I just worry that I might end up being to boring for you. These years we've been traveling the globe, I found an affection for you that I could not suppress. The only thing that held me back was grief... I don't think I ever told you about-"
"About Claire?"
"How did you...?"
"You used to talk in your sleep, professor. When we'd stay at hotels... well, I know about the experiment, the explosion, everything. Even your hat." Emmy smiled sadly, gently poking the thing that rested upon Layton's head. He blushed.
"B..but that isn't the point. What I was trying to say was... Well, I got a second chance to say goodbye that most people don't get, and that... seeing her again... that helped me get over it, and now that you've come back..."
"Yes?" Emmy looked at him inquisitively.
"Well... I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I love you too. I always have, I just never really knew how to let you know." He stopped, trying to think of more to say, but Emmy simply pulled him forwards into another kiss, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. "I'm sorry." He whispered as she kissed his neck. "I'm sorry for upsetting you. I don't... I don't really blame you, I blame myself..."
"Well don't. I love you..." She replied, and they were lost again in each other's embrace.