Notes: Both the fic and this description contain spoilers for PL3, so I'd recommend not to read any further if you haven't completed the third game. Written for a kinkmeme prompt that wanted Luke to have died after going to America and Layton to look into his murder with Maya Fey from the Ace Attorney series. Set about a year post-PL3 and uses a fanon version of what might have happened to Descole, instead of whatever's going to happen in PL6. Also, I'd advise you not to read this if you're a big fan of Descole, as the fic portrays him in a negative light.
Hershel Layton was a calm and collected individual.
This was something that he had to firmly remind himself at this very moment in time, because if he didn't then he might end up acting in a manner that was neither calm nor collected. One should avoid blaming a lady where it is possibly. Needless to say, what had happened to Luke was not the fault of the young woman sat in front of him.
But the letter she'd written to him posing as Luke?
Yes, that was entirely her fault.
Apparently people seemed to think that pretending to be Luke to get to him was a good idea. The difference being that in this incidence, Luke was now dead.
"I-it's not that I faked the letter exactly…" mumbled the girl. She'd told him earlier that she was called Maya Fey and that she'd befriended Luke after he'd moved to America, "He just wrote it through me…"
"But you said he was already dead by the time the letter was written," Layton reminded.
"He was. I just channelled him. Sort of… You see, I don't really channel the spirits of boys that often and I think he just took control of me when I was asleep or zoned out or something to write that letter. It seemed important that it got to you, so I sent it under his name," Maya babbled.
"Channelled…? Miss Fey, forgive me for being sceptical bu-"
"You don't believe in spirit mediums. I get it. Scholars hardly ever do. But whether you believe me or not, I'm just passing on the letter that Luke wrote," Maya cut in.
"May I speak with Luke about this?" checked Layton.
"No, it doesn't work like that…" Maya muttered.
"I had a feeling it wouldn't," replied Layton, "But all the same, the Triton family have been murdered and regardless of whom this letter came from it's a very definite plea for help upon finding the murderer."
Maya nodded; "That's why I don't get it isn't addressed to Nick."
"Nick?"
"He's a friend of mine who works as an attorney. Looking into murders is what Nick does. Even now he's looking into the Triton case, though no one's been charged yet. Luke knew Nick, so I'm surprised he didn't ask him to look into his murder," replied Maya.
"When it comes to mysteries, without trying to sound big-headed, I feel that I'd always be the first person that Luke would come to asking for help," said Layton.
"Yeah, he did talk about you all the time," Maya agreed, "He was really obsessed with you."
Obsessed enough to apparently cry for justice from beyond the grave, Layton mused.
Out loud, he said, "Well, I hope that I can prove worthy of his faith by finding his killer. The Tritons are my closest friends in the world and anyone who would harm them has me to answer to."
"Great! Let's get going then!" chimed Maya, suddenly turning all cheerful.
"I beg your pardon?" Layton gaped.
"Nick wouldn't let me go with him," Maya said, pouting, "He told me that I had to wait and pass on the message to you. And he said that I shouldn't get involved in case the murderer comes back. He can be so boring sometimes. I've helped him out on loads of cases and have only been kidnapped a handful of times."
"Perhaps… your friend is right and you should stay here where it's safe," encouraged Layton. He didn't want to have someone who openly confessed to being a professional hostage following him around…
"Nope, I don't take orders from you," objected Maya, "Now let's hurry up and get going before the trail gets too cold."
"V-very well…" stammered Layton. A gentleman should not argue with a young lady where it can be avoided, either.
He was thankful of Maya tagging along insofar as he didn't know his way around these large American cities at all and she effortlessly led him to the Triton household. The house in question was a step down from the grand manor they had lived in back in Misthallery, but it was still large and impressive. Currently, it was blocked off from the public by police tape and several official-looking cars were parked outside of it, giving the whole place a somewhat threatening look.
This didn't stop Maya from casually stepping over the tape to go inside.
"I'm rather unsure that we should be doing this," commented Layton.
"Relax! Nick can vouch for us because we're, um, investigative officers or something like that. Besides, you were a friend of the family and I sneak into murder scenes all the time," Maya argued.
Unsurprisingly, this did nothing to calm Layton's nerves. But he followed her regardless, soon finding out that she was correct about the officers not bothering them. One large fellow in a green trench coat even waved to Maya as they passed him by.
"Nick!"
Maya stopped herself in mid-wave to the large man and darted into one of the other rooms, where a man with spiky black hair, who was wearing a blue suit, looked surprised to see her.
"Maya? I thought I told you to wait for- …Oh, he's here," said the famed 'Nick', looking over at Layton, "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Layton. I'm Phoenix Wright, the self-proclaimed attorney of this case."
Walking over to shake his hand, Layton replied, "The pleasure is all mine. I had no idea that when your friend said she knew a man called Nick that she was referring to the esteemed Phoenix Wright."
"Haha! 'Esteemed' might be too high a praise," laughed Phoenix, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.
"Not at all. Where I come from, your prowess in the courtroom has a reputation for being unmatched," Layton assured him.
"What a coincidence! Over in America you're pretty well known through the papers as well. We were both surprised when that Luke kid said he knew you. Poor boy…" Phoenix trailed off, looking at a line of white tape on the ground that presumably outlined where Luke's body had been found. The outline of an adult woman lay near him, but Clark's was nowhere to be seen.
"Luke was… he meant a lot to me," said Layton, "And if I can help you find out what happened to him in any way at all then I will do just that."
"Glad to have you on board," confirmed Phoenix, "I might as well fill you in on what we already know, while we're here. As you can probably see, Luke and Brenda's bodies were found in this room. Clark's, on the other hand, was found in his bed. We're reasoning that someone attacked Luke and then Brenda came in to defend him, only to meet the same fate. Once they'd… dealt with the two of them, the killer probably went on to murder Clark in his sleep, so that there wouldn't be any witnesses."
"But wouldn't Clark have awoken upon hearing the noises in here?" asked Layton.
"There was surprisingly little struggle from what we can find," Phoenix replied.
"Then that makes even less sense…" Layton mused aloud, "If the killer did indeed make so little noise as to not awaken Clark, then going through to deal with him afterward would only risk creating a witness. He would have been better off just to leave swiftly."
"Perhaps he wasn't sure if he'd woken Clark up or not," said Phoenix, shrugging.
"No, I think it's more than that," muttered Layton, "I think this is a person who wanted all of the Triton family dead."
"Did they have any enemies back in England?" Maya piped in, speaking for the first time in a while, "They were such a nice family, and everyone around here really liked them."
A wave of guilt passed over Layton.
"Nice they were, indeed, but they were also friends of mine," Layton sighed, "And, as you might have heard, over the years I have gathered a fair few enemies. Many of my foes would also be likely to have a grudge against Luke, given that he used to accompany me on my adventures."
"And do you think any of your enemies might have come after Luke here?" checked Phoenix.
"There are very few of them who haven't been arrested or reformed in recent years, but… I have my suspicions," answered Layton.
Not Don Paolo.
No, Paul would never do anything like this. While he had certainly made some drastic attacks on Layton over the years, the Professor had no doubts that underneath it all Paul was actually a mostly harmless, albeit damaged, individual. And besides that, it was only ever Layton he'd wanted revenge on – Luke was just an annoyance and Paul didn't even know Clark or Brenda.
There was one person who fit all the categories, however.
One man who'd slipped under the radar and disappeared some four or more years ago. A man who had not only hated Layton, but hated anyone who got in the way of his plans. Which had included the entire Triton family.
This individual was not only as petty as Paul could be, but also had no morals that would stop him from killing others if it benefitted him. And it sickened Layton to think that he'd let him get away…
Often, he would stay awake at night, wondering when that man would come back to get revenge on him for ruining his final plan. Because Layton had no doubt that he would. Over the past four years of silence, Layton assumed that Jean Descole was simply letting him wallow in the knowledge that he hadn't been able to catch him.
Hershel Layton had let the villain get away.
A damaged ego would probably be enough satisfaction until Descole could plan something bigger.
Something like this.
"Mr. Layton, is everything all right?"
"Huh? What now?"
"You just sort of zoned out there."
"You do that sometimes too, Nick."
"Shut it, Maya, I do not!"
"Sorry to have made you worry," Layton cut into their budding argument, "I was just thinking about who the murderer might be."
"Great! So we've got something to go on?" asked Maya.
"I don't want to make baseless accusations," corrected Layton, "I have… a theory, but I would like to do some more research before drawing any conclusions."
"You should do that more, Nick. The Judge and Prosecutor Edgeworth say that you make baseless accusations all the time," Maya commented.
"I do to do research!" Phoenix snapped, "But anyway, Mr. Layton's right. We should get down to looking for any clues as to who our murderer might be."
As the search began, Layton got the definite impression that Phoenix and Maya did this sort of thing a lot. They would poke around anything and everything in the room, having debates with each other about whether they felt it was relevant to the case or not.
Layton, on the other hand, felt much better just quietly looking around the room by himself. Part of him missed the eager voice of Luke, cutting in to make a comment about their findings in the same way that Maya seemed to with Phoenix. But Luke's opinion was not something that Layton would be able to ask for anymore. And it was up to him to find out who was the cause of that…
"Mr. Wright, did you mention the cause of death?" he asked, while staring at Luke's writing desk.
"No, because we haven't been able to find out a lot about it," replied Phoenix, stopping his current argument with Maya, "I'm not sure how much of the details you want, but from what forensics have told me, all three of the victims look like they had their chests drilled into. But there were no signs of anything remotely like a drill by the time we got here."
"It's not hard for someone to carry a drill away," Maya commented.
"If they were ever here at all," suggested Layton.
"What do you mean?" Phoenix was looking at Layton with the sort of curious instinct that knew the person they were talking to was onto something.
"A lot of my enemies were known for their skills with robotics," Layton informed, "I'm sure you've heard of the mobile fortress that almost levelled London last year and beyond that I've hard mechanical contraptions thrown at me by the likes of Don Paolo and…" Jean Descole, "…others."
"That Descole guy?" Maya asked.
"Maya, don't be rude!" Phoenix hissed.
Maya pouted; "But Nick, everyone knows about Layton's arch nemesis that got away all those years ago."
"Maybe so, but it's rude to point it out while he's stand-"
"…No, Miss Fey is correct," Layton interrupted, "I shouldn't skirt around the subject. The fact of the matter is that I did fail to capture Descole back then and he has not been seen since. Learning about the drills does trouble me, because robots with drills attached to them was exactly what Descole used when I first met him in Misthallery. While it is unlike his style to repeat something he's done already, it probably wouldn't be hard for him to create smaller versions of these robots to do exactly what you've said they've done."
"Meaning that, if it was him, Descole wouldn't have had to be here at all?" Phoenix checked.
"Not at the time of the murder, no, though I don't doubt he'd have been close by. He was the sort of person who liked to watch his victims," replied Layton. He knew that if Descole was involved that he'd probably be somewhere close by, even now, "However, I believe he did have to enter the room to put them in place. Assuming that this crime scene has been undisturbed, the drawer of Luke's writing desk is open. If you look at where the boy's body has landed, it wouldn't be farfetched to summarise that the drilling contraption leapt from this drawer onto his chest when he opened it."
"But what about Brenda and Clark?" queried Maya.
"I'd need time to look better at their places of death, but I believe there would have been multiple robots placed around the house for exactly that reason. Just looking at this room alone, there are many places where they could have been hidden," said Layton.
"So off we go to find the tiny robots, then!" piped Maya.
"Don't rush to conclusions, it's just a theory Mr. Layton has," corrected Phoenix, "We haven't got any solid evidence that there were any robots at all."
"But Nick, you make rushed conclusions then look for evidence afterward in court all the time," reminded Maya.
"Maya, please!"
Layton couldn't help but find himself smile at their bickering; "Regardless of what is true or not, my theory is just that and I'm sure a good search for evidence is the best way to uncover what happened here."
"Sounds good to me," agreed Maya, "Maybe we should check Clark's room, since you and I haven't been there yet."
"That would seem like a good idea," answered Layton.
The three of them left the study, heading down the corridor and up the stairs towards the parents' bedroom. There was enough distance between these two rooms for Layton to almost be able to believe that the first two murders could have occurred without Clark waking, but he still didn't doubt that the murders were too swift for there to be much of a reaction from anyone, regardless. And, if he was honest, that wasn't what his mind was focused on. His eyes darted all over the hall as they walked, not looking for hiding places for small robots so much as looking for viewing points for an adult man. He couldn't shake off the image of Descole watching him from somewhere, grinning with glee as Layton drew ever closer to discovering him.
"Here we are," called Phoenix, stepping a side to let the other two through, "As you can see from the outline, Clark was killed in his bed. There was some struggling, like with Luke, where we assume he didn't die right away after he was drilled through the chest. But it was only a matter of time before the punctured heart got to him."
"Was Brenda not killed in the same fashion as the other two?" asked Layton. He was curious as to why Phoenix just said 'like with Luke', instead of 'like the other two'. Up until now he'd been led to believe all three of them were attacked in the same way.
"No, her injury was to her head, so she would have died instantly," answered Phoenix.
Ignoring the feeling of nausea in his stomach, Layton added even more weight to his theory. Brenda had never really damaged Descole's plans directly. She had been his hostage, but she stayed in place until she was rescued, so Descole didn't have any need to prolong her suffering. Luke and Clark, on the other hand…
"'e made me watch…" Maya mumbled.
"Who made you watch what?" Phoenix asked, as both he and Layton looked over at her.
Maya was staring at the spot where Clark's body had been, her face vacant.
"'e made me watch my mum die… 'e got me first, but she came in after t' 'elp me and then another one of 'em got 'er too… I was bleedin' all over the place, I couldn't do anythin'… You've gotta find 'im, Professah and bring 'im t' justice…"
"Luke!"
Layton rushed forward, grabbing Maya by her shoulders, "Luke, you need to tell me what happened! I'll find him, I promise I will!"
A shriek.
"Please stop shaking me!"
"I need to talk to Luke!"
"I told you, it doesn't work like that!"
Phoenix's hand rested on Layton's shoulder; "I'm sorry, but I think whatever possessed Maya has left. She doesn't have control over when it happens; spirits just possess her from time to time."
Layton released his grip on Maya, shaking as he forced himself to regain his composure.
"I… I'm most sorry, Miss Fey… I didn't mean to…"
"It's okay," Maya comforted, steadying herself, "I know that Luke was important to you, I just… um, I just blanked out then woke up to find you shaking me. It was kind of scary…"
"Yes, I lost myself for a moment. But I apologise, both for my actions and my earlier doubts about your abilities," Layton said. There was no way that she could have faked that scene, nor would she have any reason to; "It must be hard for you, being possessed outside of your control."
"It's not really as bad as all that," Maya assured him, "Most of the time it's just my big sister Mia who possesses me to help Nick on his cases."
"All the same, I'm sorry," Layton repeated.
"And all the same, I think this is starting to get a bit too dangerous," Phoenix added, "Luke possessing Maya only proves that we're getting closer to the mark and he wants to help us. So I think it would be best if you left now, Maya."
"What? Are you crazy, Nick? Surely if Luke's possessing me then I should stick around in case he has something useful to tell us!" proclaimed Maya.
"I quite agree with Miss Fey," seconded Layton.
"I'm not saying that having clues wouldn't be a good thing," Phoenix reasoned, "But we know so little about this that we can't be sure that Luke won't take over at a bad time or make her do something dangerous. He'd mean well, we all know that, but he is reckless and I value Maya's safety."
"It would be wrong to risk putting someone in danger…" Layton replied, thoughtfully.
"I can't believe you!" Maya yelled, glaring at Phoenix, "You've been leaving me behind all day and that's really unlike you. You know that I can look after myself and this is the one way that I can help. So please, don't send me away!"
"I'm putting my foot down about this, Maya," Phoenix snapped back.
"You're not my sister!" she screeched, tears forming in her eyes.
"No, but I can't in good knowledge put you in danger when I know that would have been the last thing she'd have wanted for you. I promised her that I'd protect you," Phoenix went on.
Maya sniffed loudly as she tried to think of a retort to that.
Trying to be the voice of reason, Layton softly said to her, "Mr. Wright isn't saying that he wants you off the case completely, just that it might be a good idea if you're out of harm's way until we've learned more about what's really happening here. If it makes you feel any better than I would gladly walk you back."
"It… it would make me feel better," sobbed Maya, "But you just need to walk me to the door. I can find my own way back or get a lift with Detective Gumshoe if you're that worried about me."
"Very well. I'll handle this on my own, if you want to continue to look for clues, Mr. Wright," Layton said. He wasn't entirely sure that the friction between Phoenix and Maya had past enough for the two of them to walk out together without bursting into further argument.
"All right then. Take care Maya…" mumbled Phoenix, dejectedly.
She nodded wordlessly, turning to leave at a quick pace. Layton had to dash to keep up with her.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him, he only cares about your wellbeing," Layton reasoned.
"It's not that…" Maya checked over her shoulder, seemingly to see if Phoenix was close enough to hear her, "But Nick's been acting in a way that isn't like him at all. I know he's saying that he wants to protect me because Mia told him to, but this isn't like him. Not the protecting me part, he'd always rush into danger to save me, but Nick's too reckless himself to even think about asking me to leave while we're on a case. I thought he thought that I could handle it…"
"Perhaps he's merely thinking more consciously about his decisions because of past times when he's put you in danger," Layton offered.
Maya sighed, "I wish you knew Nick better so that you could see how strange this is the same way that I do. At the moment it seems like we're bickering like usual but there's something a little… off about it. He seems even harsher than usual."
"I can't claim to know your friend very well," Layton agreed, as the two of them reached the door, "But I do know that we're all trying to find the same thing here. I will keep an eye on him, if it puts your mind at ease, but I'm sure that all will turn out for the best."
"Just… take care," Maya concluded, before heading off to talk to the same man in the green trench coat that they'd seen earlier. Layton reasoned that he must be Detective Gumshoe.
As he walked back to Clark's room, he couldn't help but feel unsettled about his conversation with Maya. Why would she be so reluctant to trust a man who seemed to be a close friend of hers? That prospect put Layton on edge for a number of reasons…
"Mr. Wright, have you found anything?"
He walked into the room to find Phoenix squatting to look under the bed.
"Nothing here, no," Phoenix replied, pulling himself up, "I'm sorry about Maya, she can get really emotional at times."
"You could have handled the situation better," Layton scolded.
"Perhaps I need some of your gentleman's advice about how to handle ladies," Phoenix laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
"I would suspect you would rather know how to 'handle' your good friends, regardless of their gender," commented Layton. His worry definitely weren't being reduced.
"Oh, come on! Don't get too harsh with me. I know things went badly, but I really was just trying to look out for Maya's safety and you can't hold that against a guy, right?" Phoenix replied.
"I suppose not. Though Miss Fey's ability to channel Luke might have proven useful," Layton went on, not willing to drop the subject just yet.
"We went through this – we don't know when Luke might possess Maya and how he might react if he does. It could do more harm than good. I'm not ruling it out completely, but I want to find out as much about this as I can first, so that we can make it a safer environment and hopefully be less surprised by however Luke might act."
"Then we'd best get started looking for evidence," agreed Layton.
The search was… formal. And ultimately fruitless. Layton felt that he could no longer be at ease working with Phoenix and, even though the other man was never far away, he much preferred looking into things on his own than bantering about them with Phoenix, like the other man was probably used to doing with Maya. And regardless of how they went about it, the fact remained that at the end of the day they had found nothing. He would have felt better even if they'd found some evidence that completely debunked Descole's involvement at all, but to find nothing was just frustrating.
Especially given that Layton had quietly hoped he might be able to work on solving a mystery with Phoenix Wright one day. It was something he always thought would be an experience that he'd never forget. And while he was unlikely to forget this day, it wasn't for the right reasons. Two people working together who were both renowned for solving mysteries should have had better luck finding useful information than they'd had today…
"Looks like the police are even packing it in for the night," Phoenix said, watching one of the cars drive away from out the window, as the evening got darker.
"It is rather unusual that they found nothing either," Layton replied.
"They're… a good bunch, but it usually ends up being down to us and the Prosecutors to find the real evidence. We're lucky no one's been charged yet or else Edgeworth might have gotten involved," said Phoenix.
"Any extra brains would never be turned away," assured Layton, "All the same, is it all right for us to be here without police presence?"
"They'd have told us to leave if they wanted us to," Phoenix answered, "Just think of it as meaning we have free reign to check out the house. We might not get another chance like this, so we should make the most of it."
"In that case, we should split up to cover more ground," suggested Layton. The two of them had stuck together for most of the day and he wanted a chance to look at some of the rooms again without Phoenix breathing down his neck.
"Very well," replied Phoenix.
"I want to have another look in Clark's room," Layton said.
"No, I'm not sure you should do that," muttered Phoenix.
"All right then, if you'd prefer to look upstairs yourself then I'd have no objections to searching downstairs," Layton offered.
"Actually, I think it'll work out either way. If you want to check Clark's room then go for it. I'll search downstairs and we can meet up later to compare notes," Phoenix decided.
"As you wish," hummed Layton.
How very peculiar…
He watched Phoenix head downstairs and couldn't stop thinking about how his reluctance to leave him alone was odd. For a moment, he was half-tempted to follow him, but the thought that would put a dint in Phoenix's trust of him and decided against it.
For now, he had the chance to openly check his surrounding and he headed straight for Clark's room, as he'd said to Phoenix that he would. His goal was to check everywhere that Phoenix had claimed to have already checked while Layton was escorting Maya out of the building. There had been a few places that the other man had made a point of telling Layton that there was no point in checking again…
As he entered the room, his gaze moved to the window, where he saw someone running down the darkening streets. Even at this distance, it was easy to tell from the spirit medium clothing that it was Maya, probably concerned that they had been out for so long. He hoped that her return wouldn't cause Phoenix to get annoyed, but judging from how far away she was, it would still take her a while to reach the house, so Layton had enough time to at least check under the bed before going to greet her.
He crouched down, peering into the gloom beneath the bed. At first all that caught his eyes was the usual affair of dropped change, discarded buttons and the guilty dust that gathers up in places you don't bother cleaning on account of being doubtful that visitors would look there. But then something else caught his attention. It might have been a fancy pen, Clark was known to collect odd little things like that, but as he reached out and pulled it closer it became apparent that it was attached to something bigger.
It was, in fact, the arm of a small robot, fashioned into a drill.
He'd been right!
It felt too easy, but he was right about the little robots!
However, that left him with an even worse fact to have to deal with. Phoenix had checked under the bed earlier and there was no way anyone could have missed this while looking in broad day light…
Oh goodness, no…
Layton grabbed the robot for evidence, quickly exiting the room and taking the stairs two at a time to get to the bottom of them.
"Mr. Wright!"
"Is something the matter?"
Phoenix was stood in the hall, looking shocked at Layton's urgency.
"This is the matter!" cried Layton, waving the robot in front of Phoenix's face. Then he added, "Actually, that isn't the only thing that's the matter, because I just saw Miss Fey heading back towards the house. Where is she?"
"I think your eyes are playing tricks on you. Maya isn't here," Phoenix dismissed.
"Don't play games with me! Here I thought you'd be subtle enough to go after the police force, but-"
"Professah!"
"Luke?"
Maya's frame appeared in the living room doorway, her arms bound behind her back. It appeared at her kidnapper had been half way through tying her up when Layton had interrupted.
"Professah, there's a basement down from the front passage! That's where-"
Phoenix dashed over, slamming Luke against the wall.
"You got in my way enough while you were alive, Luke Triton, I will not tolerate you doing so now that you are dead!" he hissed.
"Descole… Put him down!" Layton growled, closing in on him. He knew better than to get too close, least Descole do anything hasty in his desperation and kill another innocent person.
Chuckling low in his throat, 'Phoenix' cooed, "So you figured me out. How long have you known? Was it since that annoying girl informed you of her worries? I rather do think I had you fooled for definite before that."
"I had my suspicions, though up to then I'd just assumed you were hiding amongst the police to disguise your evidence," answered Layton, "I guess this was just too big to move by hand without someone noticing." He waved the lifeless robot around for the second time.
Descole sneered, "Yes, that one happened to short circuit before it could leave, so I had no choice but to leave it as the police arrived, so that I could come back and deal with it later. Don't worry, that isn't the one with Clark's blood on it, merely a backup that happened to backfire…"
"Given your skill with mechanics, I'm hardly surprised," commented Layton.
"Do you want me to kill her?" Descole threatened, shaking Maya. Her head lulled back and forth. It appeared that Luke's short burst of possession was over.
"No, I do not want you to kill anybody," Layton replied, with honesty, "But I am surprised about one thing."
"Oh?" prompted Descole. He was always intrigued enough by Layton to be kept talking, if it wasn't an immediate threat to his plans to do so.
"I'm surprised that you left me upstairs on my own, if you knew that I might find your contraption," said Layton.
Sighing, Descole answered, "I didn't want to leave you alone. There was no way I could have Phoenix reasonably disagree with you, since it was the best course of action. But between leaving you upstairs to find the robot and letting you run around down here, risking you discover my hostage, I do feel that the former works out more in my favour. You see, I wanted you to find out the truth. I always do. You have no idea how hard it was to contain my excitement when you guessed correctly at my plan this morning. It isn't so much me losing my touch, if that's what you're thinking, as I purposely made it easy for you. Didn't want to overwork your little mind, after all. What I wanted was for you to know that it was me and that I had you helpless."
"I'm not helpless yet!" snarled Layton.
"Are you not? You're here alone, you can't hurt me without risking me killing the girl, and I've already killed three of your best friends and…" Descole's face broke into a grin that looked bizarre on Phoenix's face, "…When I'm done here, I'm going to kill your daughter as well. Maybe I'll keep you alive long enough to drag you back to England and make you watch."
This was the snapping point in which Layton dropped the broken robot and charged for Descole.
He raised his fist, but Descole had already ducked, darting away with Maya's body still in his grip.
"You killed Luke's mother and made him watch the murder as he lay dying himself!" yelled Layton, turning to lunge for a second time, "You killed Clark without him even knowing what had happened to his family!"
"On the contrary," sneered Descole, backing off further, "I sat on his bed as he bled to death, telling him exactly what I'd done to them."
There were no more words that could be said in response to this. Even Layton, with his large vocabulary, did not have the right words to express how sickened he was by the actions of this man.
He bellowed and continued his charge, but the effect was lost as he tripped over the hallway's rug.
"You must be getting careless in your old age," taunted Descole.
Careless, perhaps, but observant was something that Layton would always be. He reached down to where the rug had been dislodged; taking hold of the metal ring it had been covering.
"No, you don't!" snapped Descole, dropping Maya's body to fall to the floor like a ragdoll, then rushing forward to stamp on Layton's hand.
There was an unhealthy sounding crunch from Layton's fingers, but he just winced and maintained his grip the best he could.
"I suppose that's where you've hidden the real Phoenix Wright…" Layton hissed, "That's what Luke was trying to tell me."
"Your skill at pointing out the obvious always astounds me," answered Descole, "How the boy knew I had no idea, probably because it was the only place in the house that the police wouldn't have known about and he did pick up your insufferable attention to details in all those years of being your pet dog. Not that it matters, because I have won. My hostages were only to make you behave, which you haven't done, but you still have a chance to save both of these people if you play your cards right."
"I can do that without playing into your hand," growled Layton.
"Can you? Because I really don't think you can," snorted Descole, "You couldn't catch me years ago and I've had all that time to perfect my methods."
"And yet you went back to just using the same robot designs that you used in Misthallery? I expected a little more originality," baited Layton. He needed to keep him talking as long as possible…
"Is the beauty of references lost on you, Layton? Those robots were the ones that the Triton boy piloted to aid in my defeat at uncovering the Golden Garden, so of course I'm going to use a modified design to be the cause of his undoing!" Descole retorted.
"I think that he's not quite done being the cause of your undoing yet," hummed Layton.
"What do you-"
Maya's figure slammed into Descole, knocking him off Layton's fingers and half way across the floor, pinning him to the ground with surprising strength, given her small size.
Layton wasted no time in going to help her hold him down.
"Thank you, Luke…" he mumbled, taking over best he could.
"Um, I'm not Luke…" Maya mumbled, awkwardly, "But, you're welcome. That's… the Descole guy, isn't it? Not Nick?"
"Yes, you were right about him," answered Layton, struggling to keep Descole's arms behind his back, "I should have paid your warnings more heed."
"You paid them plenty if you figured all this out," Maya assured him, "I didn't even know, I just knew that it wasn't Nick. But… how did I get here? Did Luke take over my body? Last I remember I was back at the office, waiting for the two of you to get back."
"Luke must have used all his strength to possess you and come here," said Layton, "Now, if you don't mind, could you give your friend on the police force a ring?"
"Absolutely! Gumshoe and his guys will be over in a flash," replied Maya, and then she looked down at the trapdoor, "…I just hope Nick will be all right until they get here…"
"The sooner they do, the sooner we can find out," Layton said, grimly.
Nodding, Maya moved towards the door to make the call, leaving Layton to do his best at restraining the continually struggling Descole.
"This isn't how it will end, Layton…" Descole muttered.
"Frankly, I don't care how it ends, just that it does end," Layton informed.
Descole replied, "Ours was a unique situation. I thought you valued the hatred we had for each other as much as I did. Just look at the poetry I created to cause your misery, Layton. And in return you're simply going to hand me over to the police as if I was just like any of those other, lesser, buffoons who have tried to stand against you? If I must be defeated then I will stand for nothing short of being killed by your own hands!"
"Where you see poetry, I see a loving family being murdered just so you could hurt me," answered Layton, "And frankly, I don't care what you want. If you think it is an insult for me just to hand you over to the police and be done with you, then that's probably the cruellest form of punishment I could give you."
"Do you think the police could hold me?" warned Descole.
"We shall find out," answered Layton.
"They're on their way," Maya called, rushing back over, "C-can I go see Nick now."
Ideally, Layton wanted to go with her, in case the sight that greeted her was not a pretty one, but they weren't in ideal situations and it wouldn't have been fair to stop her any longer…
"Very well, but take care," Layton replied.
"Thank you."
Maya opened the trap door and disappeared down it. There was a silence, in which Layton could only hear the sound of her footsteps on the ladder, and then…
"Nick! Oh, are you all right?"
A frantic shuffling. He reasoned that she must be untying him.
There was a gasp for breath that definitely sounded male.
"Maya! Thank you so much! What's going on up there?"
Before Maya could get into the lengthy explanation, her voice was drowned out by the noise of approaching sirens. Layton was relieved to see the police had arrived, but didn't let go of his grip on Descole until the man was safely in the back of the police van. He didn't want there to be any chance of this man getting away again and potentially hurting more people in his game of revenge.
"I will come for you," Descole threatened, as he was put in the van, "You better keep a close eye on anyone you hold dear, because I will kill all of them before I kill you."
Layton wasn't going to rise to the bait.
"The American authorities will deal with you, since you performed this crime on their turf. I will follow the case enough to determine what happens to you and I'm sure, should you escape that Miss Fey and Mr. Wright will inform me of it, but that's as far as my involvement will go. You are gone from my life, Descole. Go, knowing that Luke and Miss Fey were the ones to defeat you, not me," concluded Layton, walking off from the van before Descole had time to say anything further.
"Mr. Layton, we've got a lot to talk about," panted Phoenix, as he and Maya ran over to greet him.
Layton nodded; "Indeed we do. But it has been too long of a day for all of us and we could all probably do with some decent rest."
"That's for sure," Phoenix agreed, "Why don't you come back with me?"
"I wouldn't want to impose," said Layton.
"You wouldn't be. I gatecrash at Nick's house all the time," Maya assured him.
"Yeah, she kind of does…" said Phoenix, laughing awkwardly, "We'd welcome one more guest for the night, though."
"Very well then," Layton answered. He wasn't in the mood to argue and the offer was very kind.
So the three of them returned to Phoenix's home, engrossed in discussion about the day, despite how tired they were. Maya turned out to be a much better and more dramatic storyteller than Layton was, so he let her tell Phoenix what had happened, saved for the blanks in the story that only he could fill in. When the two of them were done, Phoenix took his turn to explain about how Descole had abducted him as he arrived to investigate the Triton household and had held him in the basement until they'd found him.
Thanks to all the tales, it ended up being an even longer night. And it led onto a longer day still, since all three of them were required to give statements to the police about what had happened. Justice is not always swift and it took some time for the case to come to a close, Layton being required to stay in America until it was.
By the time it was over he was quite sick of telling the story, but there was one more reason he had to be in America now…
"I'm glad so many people could come all the way from England," Maya commented, watching the crowd of faces, most of them familiar to Layton, flock around the site where the coffins of the Triton family were going to be lowered into the ground.
"They had… a great many friends," Layton said. He'd just finished greeting Flora and had left her in Rosa's care. While he knew this was hard for her as well and wanted to be by her side, at this very moment he wasn't sure that he could deal with having to again tell the painful story to someone who'd been close to Luke.
"But none greater than you."
"Thank you, Maya."
"No, thank you, Professah. You did everything for me."
"Luke…?"
"Yeah, this'll be the last time," Luke said, looking up at him through Maya's body, "I 'ave t' move on now. I already stayed too long, but I wanted t' 'elp you catch Descole."
"And you did a fine job. I should be the one thanking you," replied Layton, kneeling down to be level with him.
"Maybe we should thank each other," chuckled Luke, "But… don't be sad, Professah. Mum and dad are 'appy and I'm going t' be with 'em. We're all gonna… g-gonna be watchin' you and we want t' see you 'appy."
"I… I will be… Maybe not right away, but I will be," promised Layton. He reached out to hug Luke, holding back the tears as his apprentice put his arms around him as well.
Though their conversation was not being listened into, Luke whispered into Layton's ear, as if to stop anyone else from hearing, "…She's 'ere too. And she watches you and misses you. She says she'll be my friend and we can watch over you togethah until you join us…"
Claire…
That was the point in which Layton could not stop the tears from falling. He cried, holding Luke in place for a few moments.
"Mr. Layton, I… um, I can't breathe very well."
Layton calmly released Maya, so she could get her breath back.
"Thank you for letting me say farewell to him," he told her.
"You're welcome, though I didn't know he took me over again," she replied.
"That was the last time," assured Layton, "He told me so."
"Oh. Well… I hope it went well," Maya awkwardly answered.
"It did. I know he's moved onto a good place," Layton told her.
He also knew that he was watching him, with Clark and Brenda.
And Claire.
It was almost too much for him to deal with. But he made a promise to live his life happily for the sake of all of them. So he stood up and went back with Maya, to talk about all the good things that the Triton family had done in their lifetime to all the many people who cared about them, instead of focusing on the tragedy that had happened at the end.
There were a lot of good things to tell.