I actually planed to write 6 novels.. this is the third one... Book one and two are not that good... And I have to warn you, my English is not the best and this is the first time I'm writing a novel in English... So please be lenient.

I do not own Professor Layton!

Chapter 1

The Runaway:

It was a typical day in London. Three years had passed since Luke, the little boy with the blue cap, had to move to America... And one year had passed since Luke and the Professor had broke up their contact. It wasn't that they had been getting into a fight, they just had no time for phone calls, neither then for letters... So the Professor had no idea what Luke had been through the past year ... And this is where the whole story started.

"I'm truly sorry, young Mr. Triton... I never though this storm would break down the whole bridge... Well, I hope you're way of life will go on, at least tolerable.", Mr. Klade from the house next door said, when he left Mr. and Mrs, Triton's funeral.
Yes it was true... Clark and Brenda, Luke's parents had passed away in a very rainy storm, while crossing a bridge. And now Luke was all alone, he had no one... And of course, under these circumstances, Luke's school marks were getting even more worse, than his condition, until he broke up school. He couldn't call the Professor... He hadn't called him for a whole year.. And maybe he would be disappointed... and if he would find out about Luke's marks and the fact that he broke up school...he would be even more disappointed... Luke thought he had let down everyone... He never should have told his parents to come back home from the congress this early... Otherwise they could still be alive ...
Luke was 16 years old now and right now he was acting like a little child... What was totally understandable... But he didn't know what to do... So he did the first thing which came to his mind... He ran away...

Luke took the first ship he could see... of course he had no money, for buying a boarding card... So he had to enter the ship through the cellar, illegal... All Luke could think about was how disappointed the professor would be, if he could see him like that... But he had no other chance... He had to go away, from this place... He wanted to be alone... But unfortunately, the ship's next stop was...
"LONDON"

Welcome Home:

When Luke realized, where he just arrived, He wanted to take the next ship, but he couldn't find one. And at least he had no idea, where he could sleep... so he visited the good old, Gressenheller University, where he actually should find his old friend Professor Layton, well he needed someone.. So he was about to ask the only person in the world, who would still talk to him. All Luke hoped was that the Professor wouldn't get angry at him.
When Luke arrived at Gressenheller, he already saw, a very familiar top-hat. It was brown and had an orange ribbon. Luke could see the dark-brown figure walking through the campus, talking to the students and finally getting into his old office. Luke kind of followed the Professor , the whole time... And somehow Luke could feel that Layton knew, someone was watching him. But right now he didn't care, all he wanted was to meet Professor Layton again. After seeing his former mentor, after all these years, he got very excited.
In past weeks, Luke had to handle a great loss and, even if he felt, that he needed one,.. nobody could give it to him... Luke didn't want to look like a mess, a little crying ungentlemanly child... But somehow... He wanted comfort .. He needed ...a hug. And even if he knew, the Professor could never give him one, because he was too gentlemanly, he still hoped, that his beloved Professor could give him the strange feeling of happiness back. And so after thinking and thinking he stood in front of the door... the door to Layton's office. When Luke finally took the strength to knock, something happened... the door opened and a tall man, who was almost the same height as Luke, escaped the office.
Luke looked the man straight in the eye and began to speak:" H...-H-H-..Hello...Sir.", He stuttered
On Layton's face appeared a little smile...But Luke could see, it looked like, the Professor hadn't sleep for months.
:"Hello young lad. You were the one, who was following me around the University, weren't you?", Layton said friendly.
He didn't remember... Luke couldn't believe it, his best friend, couldn't remember him... What had changed over the last year... Luke didn't thought about the fact, that he had grown a lot ... now he didn't look like a child, he looked like a little gentleman.
:"Y-Yeah ... That was me, ...Sir",Luke answered, a little bit confused.
:"Well, I know this must look a kind of rude, but I have no time to discuss this subject, I have History-class now. So if you excuse me..?", Layton said firmly, while he stepped forward and closed his office door.
Layton began his next steps toward the floor, until Luke said something that froze the Professor deep in his bones.
:"I thought a gentleman always takes care of himself?", Luke said with a slight smile on his face, hoping Layton would get, why he said that. The Professor stood on the floor, frozen and stunned. He hadn't heard a sentence, like that, for 3 years. Slowly he turned around and replied:" W-Well... Yes of course, But also a gentleman always puts others needs first."
:" Well, I guess you're right there... And actually I need help... 'YOUR' help, Professah..", Luke said, but the way he pronounced the last syllable of the word Professor, let Layton again froze. Now Professor Layton knew exactly, who was standing in front of him, only a few inches away.
:"...L-L-Luke...?!", Layton said, as if he couldn't believe it.,"My boy ... Is that really you..?"He asked, still surprised.
After a moment of silence, Luke lifted his head up, looked directly into the man's eyes and said:"It 's been a while, Professor.",with a smile
:"Q-Quite a while my boy, it took too long.", Layton answered, finally sounding happy again, which made Luke chuckle a little.
The Professor walked forward, and reached one hand in the now young man's direction to greet him.
Of course Luke was a little bit disappointed, for not getting a hug, but at least, he wasn't a child anymore. He took the hand and shook it slightly. Layton smiled approvingly, but his smile faded, when he saw how down Luke was looking, He looked like he hadn't slept for quite a while and somehow he could feel that something was troubling Luke, and didn't he just said, that he needed help...? Layton thought.
:"My boy, It's a pleasure to meet you again and I'm very lucky about that, but... you said you need my help.?", He asked curious.
:"I'm afraid I do, but ...", Luke answered, while he let go of Layton's hand,"But... at first, I kind of need... a home. I didn't plan further than coming here...", Luke looked away, ashamed of his acting, but to his surprise he felt a warm hand on his right shoulder, which made him turn his head back again. But this also made him feel a little uncomfortable. Over the past months he had a problem with beeing touched by others.
:"My boy, you're always welcome to stay at my place... We can go now, if you want to." Layton said smiling.
:" I thought you had class now?", Luke stated
:"Yes... I have, but you're looking tired my boy, maybe it would be the best for you to lay down for a while, and you can't do that in University.", The professor began,:"Or would you like to take part in the lecture?, When I'm guessing right, you have been visiting the 10th grade last year, so you should be familiar with the topic."
Luke swallowed hard, thinking of the fact that he hasn't been able to go to school in the last 9 months. He knew that the Professor would be disappointed, if his former number-one-apprentice, wouldn't be able to explain the easiest things, but of course Luke knew, he couldn't hesitate now, otherwise the Professor would get that something was wrong.
:"Sure thing, I would love to come with you." Luke finally answered, with a fake smile on his face. And of course Layton knew that this wasn't a real smile, but after not seeing Luke for 3 years, he wasn't sure about his reaction, if the Professor would have asked him about it, so he just went on.
:"Very well then, ... Let's go."
After a while, sitting and listening to the Professor's lecture, one of his students had a problem with translating hieroglyphics, Luke had a big problem. The Professor remembered, that Brenda and Clark had sent Luke to a specific private school, which took part in archaeologically subjects so he asked Luke to come to the board. Now Luke was in trouble, he hadn't read hieroglyphics for almost a year and he had no idea, what all these signs meant... But what were the opportunities...
-Telling the Professor, that he failed in school, and had become lazy.
-standing up and then falling down, and pretending to be very sick.
- Telling the truth... ( That was his worst idea )
-Or just going to the board and hoping that he was still a quick and clever kid... ...what he did.
So Luke stood up and walked to the board he took a piece of chalk and ... and he remembered... Luke didn't know all the signs, but he could understand them from the context... Luke was happier than ever before... he knew exactly what he was doing. Luke could almost feel the Professor nodding approvingly behind his back, but also the Professor noticed that Luke looked like he hadn't wrote on a board ever before... And his handwriting was not that beautiful. But Layton didn't think too much of that, and was happy when Luke finished his writing and walked back to his seat.
:"Well done, my boy.", the Professor said, while putting a hand on Luke's shoulder, but to his surprise, Luke winced and turned away, as fast as he could he went back to his seat, with an odd look on his face. That took Layton's attention, there sure was going to be a long talk, when they're getting home.
When the lecture was over the Professor and Luke took a seat in the Laytonmobile and began to drive home. Layton was desperately searching for a topic to talk about and of course he found one... Even if it wasn't his best choice.
:"Well Luke, how are your parents?, I haven't talked to Clark for quite a while now."
That made Luke wince again and he could feel a tear running down his cheek, which the Professor noticed,:"Luke?...Is everything alright?",he asked worriedly
Luke knew he had to say something, so he rubbed away the tear and put on his fake smile again.:" Yeah I'm okay...I was just thinking of something sad", knowing the Professor would ask about what he was thinking, he went on very quick,:"My parents are fine... actually they're better than ever before.", after that senctence his voice broke... It actually wasn't a real lie but it sounded like one. But the Professor stopped asking about that, he went on with another question, while parking the car in front of the good old house.
:"If you say so. And how about your schooling? Your teachers have to be very pround to have such a great student, even if your handwriting is not the best... you don't read that much, don't you?"
Here the fun ended... Even if Luke knew, that Layton didn't know about the fact that Luke couldn't read anything, because he hadn't the money for books, he still was hurt.
:"How dare you, saying that?!", Luke snapped,"It's not very gentlemanly to insult someone!", after a few seconds, Luke understood what he just said... and he regret it...
A very confused Professor looked at him :"I'm truly sorry my boy. I had no intention to hurt your feelings.", he said with regret.
:" N-Noo... I'm sorry about that... I was just... I- .. I don't know... Just in a bad mood. I'm sorry.", here Luke's voice broke, he just had yelled at the only person in the whole world, who still talked to him... What had he just done... He began to shiver... and then there was a quite sob... but no tears.
:" It's okay, my boy... I think I just forgot, that you've grown a lot, you're a different man now.", The Professor said, while putting a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder. But Luke turned away.. somehow after his parents died, Luke had a big problem with human-contact. The Professor could sense that something was definitely wrong.
For a moment nobody said anything... the Professor looked at Luke and Luke looked out of the window, until both stood up and welcomed the house.