Notes – For a prompt-fest that I recently posted. Nekovale wanted Dimitri and Shizuka without any particular prompt. Set in the Layton universe, sometime post-PL3 with heavy spoilers for that game, and also a few years post-DM too.

"I've come here to learn," was all she kept saying during the many times that people asked her why she was here at all.

A prison was no place for someone like Shizuka Kawai. She was a tiny Japanese girl with flowing brown hair and a look of innocence about her face. Prison loved innocence. It loved crushing it under its thumb.

"But what do you want to learn here?" Dimitri was the first to ask her, as no one else really bothered to try.

"About people… I want to help people," she answered vaguely.

"There are many other places you could do that," he assured her. He wanted to tell her to pack her things and run as far away from here as she could. To somewhere she was better suited to helping people, like a charity shop or a hospital.

"No, these are the kind of people I want to help," Shizuka said firmly.

"Why? Most of the people here are beyond any help you could give," Dimitri muttered.

She wasn't meeting his eyes, but she replied, "People used to say that my brother did bad things too, that he was a thug. I never saw him that way, but people tell me there was a lot about him that he didn't want me to see. But he changed. He pulled himself up and with his friends' help made something of his life. I… want to meet people who are like my brother was and learn from them, so that maybe I can help them to."

"Well the best of luck to you, but don't be too disappointed if you can't get much out of this lot," Dimitri replied honestly.

"You seem very unlike them all, Mr. Allen. Why are you here?" Shizuka asked suddenly.

The question that inmates dreaded – what did you do to get on the inside?

"I… loved someone. At least I think I did. And to help them I did some very terrible things," he said, trying to block the image of Claire out of his mind.

"Devotion to a loved one is very noble," she started.

"No, not what I was doing. I'm sure you've heard about the Prime Minister being kidnapped and parts of London being destroyed by a giant machine even if you are new here. Well I was involved in that," he clarified.

"Oh…"

And that was all he got. She left their little talk on that one note and expression of uncertain disappointment. Perhaps it would help her to see that there was no helping the people in this prison.

Days went by and she did not leave the place, however, but she didn't try talking to him again. The most he heard of her was one passing conversation from Clive.

"The little psychology student is trying so hard, but no one's taking her seriously," he'd said.

"You'd better not be luring her in," Dimitri growled. He had plenty of reasons to not like Clive.

Clive waved his hand dismissively and said, "She's not my type at all. Too naïve, too untainted by the real world. I have no interest in people like that."

"Could have fooled me with the amount of them you tricked during your little plan," commented Dimitri.

"I can use naivety, yes, but that doesn't mean I have any interest in it," said Clive, getting up, "Now excuse me, your little therapist girl wants to talk to me about my tragic life."

The fact that he knew it would give Clive satisfaction if he did it was all that stopped Dimitri from punching him. The other man wasn't taking any of this seriously. He'd long since accepted that what he did was terrible and that he'd had to be stopped, but somehow Clive seemed to get a source of amusement from anyone who tried to talk to him about his 'problems'. Or at least anyone who wasn't Layton. Dimitri had eyes and ears; he'd certainly noticed how differently Clive talked to the Professor about these issues when Layton came to visit him.

It was a full week later before Dimitri found that Shizuka girl sitting on the opposite side of the glass to him again.

"I wanted to talk to you about your crimes," she said firmly.

"Very well," Dimitri replied, indifferently.

"Um, your friend told me about what happened with Bill Hawks… About the part you played," she mumbled.

"Clive isn't my friend," Dimitri assured her.

"S-sorry, of course not… He used you and that was terrible. But I don't think you're terrible for what you did," Shizuka said.

"I kidnapped the Prime Minister and posed as a twisted dictator," he reminded.

"But you did it all for that girl! Mr. Dove told me about how you always thought he was going to help you build your time machine so you could rescue her," Shizuka insisted.

"And if I hadn't been so single-minded I might have seen that he was using me. Besides, changing someone's fate is wrong, her boyfriend taught me that," Dimitri said, almost at a growl.

Shizuka wasn't finished yet though; "If it had been my brother then I'd have done anything to save him too."

"Then he's lucky to have a sister like you."

"And that girl was lucky to have a guy like you, even if you were wrong," Shizuka concluded.

"Well… I… No, she would have hurt less if I'd never tried to bring her back," he stammered, trying not to get emotional about this.

"Maybe, but I don't think you're a bad person because you wanted to help her," Shizuka said.

"Bad person or not, I belong here for my crimes," he argued.

"Perhaps you do, but it just proves what I came here to find out – that even if you do have crimes you need to pay for that you're not always a bad person," she said triumphantly.

"You are a tricky one, aren't you?" Dimitri laughed, despite himself, "Maybe hanging around this lot is rubbing off on you."

"Hopefully… I do need to grow up a bit to help people, I know that, but I really do want to try," Shizuka replied.

"Well-"

"Hey Shizuka, are you done for the day or what?" yelled a boy from by the door.

"Almost! I'll be there in a minute, Katsuya," she called back, then turned to Dimitri and said, "Um, that's my brother. I don't want to keep him waiting long, so…"

"Go ahead, I don't mind," Dimitri assured her, "I hope you continue to learn a lot from your visit."

"Thank you, Mr. Allen, you've been very kind," she said, bowing before turning to leave.

He watched them go. Her brother seemed like a nice guy. It was hard to believe that if life had taken a different turn that someone like him could end up in here alongside people like Dimitri. But then maybe if life had taken a different turn Dimitri might not have ended up here either…

…No.

He'd never have done anything differently. He might have been wrong but he knew in his heart that he'd never have been able to live with himself doing anything except trying to save Claire. That was who he was. A wrong person but maybe not a bad person.

Those psychology students might just know what they're doing after all.