Notes – A few people commented saying that they wanted to see this continued and I was quite interested in doing so, thus another chapter. This one will purely deal with Luke, while the next chapter will be about Layton and Flora. It's been a long time since I've really written anything multi-chaptered, so please bear with me. Once more, there might be a few mild spoilers for the third game but nothing really direct.


The sound of the crowd went on long into the night. There were cries of joy from those reunited with their loved ones and wails of despair from others who weren't so fortunate as to be greeted with survivors from the Titanic. The despaired wails vastly outweighed the joyful cries.

Luke had walked far enough away from the crowd for it all to sound like a ringing blur in the background. There were still people in this part of town, but for the most part they were all headed for the docks. None of them paid him any attention and he was glad of it. What could he possibly say to anyone who had spoken to him? His mind was still consumed by what had happened to his parents.

His legs eventually told him that it was time to stop, so he let them give out without much consideration to where they landed him. This was all part of a strange land to him, so one street was no different from another. He sat with his back pressed against the damp stone wall of a side street, letting the world pass him by.

By the time he regained his senses once more it was morning. Luke wasn't entirely sure if he'd slept or not, but something had clicked inside of his head – he had to start thinking again. Nothing would come of drowning in self-pity here. The only thing to do was to assess the situation and think of what to do next.

So… both of his parents were gone. With them had gone any hope of finding the house they were supposed to be headed to, as Luke had never been told the address. Even if he had it was unlikely that they'd let him live there out of sympathy, seeing as he hadn't the money to fund the house. Most likely they'd hand him over to an orphanage who'd try to contact any living relatives that he had. Who had his parents appointed to be Luke's legal guardian should anything happen to them?

…The professor, of course!

Well, Luke wasn't really sure if they had done, but he was the only option, really. And even if he wasn't Layton would definitely come to help Luke. He should have thought about that sooner!

Any other plans he might have come up with were forgotten amongst the overwhelming desire to call Layton and tell him everything. Rummaging through his pockets, Luke pulled out the money that he had been given before leaving England. Thankfully, his parents had exchanged the pounds for dollars prior to leaving, which made everything easier for him. Surely this was enough for him to call London.

But that turned out to not be the case. Calls to other countries were expensive, even more so from a public phone. However, the thought of calling the professor, the man who could fix anything, dominated Luke's mind. He had to get the money.

So Luke did what was possibly the least gentlemanly thing he'd ever done – he scrounged the streets for change. Any money that might have been dropped. All pride he'd ever had in himself drained away as he shoved his hands down drains in the hope of finding even one dime.

When that got all too much for him he would just sit on the sidewalk, amongst those kids from less fortunate walks of life, with his hat out beside him in the hope that some passersby would be charitable to drop him some change. Never had he felt more fitted to the role of a cockney street urchin than this far away from London. Maybe that was irony, he wasn't sure.

After so long of scrounging and begging, Luke eventually gathered enough money to make that call. He rushed to the phone box, jamming the door shut and holding the receiver in his quaking hands before dialling the numbers he knew by heart.

Admittedly, this was the university's number and not Layton's personal number, but surely he'd be there. And if not then they could find him, Luke was certain of that.

The process was laborious and Luke cursed all the many other people who were probably making calls to England for slowing down the connection, but eventually an operator got him through to the university.

"'ello! I need t' speak t' Professah Layton please!" he yelled down the line as soon as it was picked up.

"Please don't shout," he heard from the other end, "Professor Layton is unfortunately not here right now, he hasn't been for a while. Nothing is official, but in light of what's happened recently he's having… a leave of absence, I suppose."

"Can you getta message to 'im at least?" Luke tried, sounding desperate.

There was a pause, followed by, "I really don't think it would be wise to disturb him."

"You don't understand! I need to talk to 'im! You've gotta tell 'im that-"

His credit ran out. The line went dead.

That stupid man, whoever he had been! Surely he must have recognised Luke's voice; the professor was hardly ever without him. Unless he was the substitute teacher covering while Layton was away…

No matter, he'd make another call.

Using what money, though?

It dawned on Luke that he'd scraped every penny he had into making that call… He couldn't even remember the last time he'd really eaten since he arrived. Maybe he could throw together enough money to call again, but what was saying that it wouldn't just be a repeat of what had happened this time?

No, he had to accept that this wasn't time for the professor to come to save him. This was time to knuckle down and find his own way.

He could go to the authorities, couldn't he?

Would they even care though?

Luke had seen dozens of people lining the streets here; they had no homes to go to. If the police didn't help them than one more lost young boy would make no difference. It wasn't as if there was anyone looking for him here and everyone back in England most likely thought he was dead…

The only way was to learn how people in this situation lived and copy that until he could afford to go back to London. That was his ultimate goal.

As he trudged down the street, Luke mused that he could get by, even get food, by gathering money the way he had done – by searching for lost change and begging. But the sensible side of his mind pointed out to him how long it had taken to get enough money to make one overseas phone call.

There had to be better ways to get money.

In front of him, towering at least twice his height was a woman walking a small dog. She looked rather plump and though not an aristocrat clearly she was from a good walk of life. As she marched, Luke could tell that she just didn't see the hordes of homeless strays around her, having been trained to block them out while growing up. What was most noticeable about this lady, however, was the purse dangling at her side. One hard tug and she wouldn't have a chance to stop someone from…

…No! That was the last thing a gentleman should do!

Begging was one thing but at least it wasn't harming others.

It didn't matter that the woman probably wouldn't miss whatever change was in the purse too much, a gentleman should never do anything that would cause a lady distress. The professor was very firm about that.

And yet, the professor was not here. Maybe Layton was a true gentleman but Luke was not and right now couldn't afford to be one. If he did this then he wouldn't even qualify as a future gentleman.

All while he was arguing with himself over what was the correct action to take another voice was rising in his head. A voice that told him if he snatched the purse now then she'd never even see him because of his height and by the time she did he could have ducked into that alley on the right to be out of there before she had a chance to catch him, if he was quick enough.

While these voices debated inside of him, one rang true – it was now or never. Choose to starve with the pride of a gentleman or accept what fate's given you and live another day.

Luke knew what he had to do.

As a starving child, not a gentleman, he darted forward and snatched the purse, tugging it from the lady's shoulder and dashing around the corner to the sound of her screams and her little dog's yapping.

He had to keep on running, because he didn't know if anyone was chasing him, but eventually he made it. And then he had the money to buy food.

Although Luke could never be a gentleman again, he could live.

And for the moment that was all he wanted.