Notes – The second chapter I was really nervous about. This one is the rewrite of the second game. I tried to keep it as brief and relevant to this story as I could, so hopefully it'll read okay.
It took many months for Flora to adjust to living in her new home. During that time, finding it hard to constantly keep up with their fake identities, Alan and Celeste were revealed to her as being truly called Dimitri and Claire. But out of some kind of luck she never questioned about the names and swore to refer to them by the fake ones when they were in public together.
What none of them were expecting was the letter that was sent to their home a few months down the line.
"It's addressed to Claire," Flora told Dimitri.
"I don't see what's wrong with that," Dimitri replied, confused.
"No, I mean that it's addressed to Claire as in it's not addressed to Celeste. It has Claire's name on the front," clarified Flora.
"What? That can't be…" Dimitri mumbled, taking hold of the letter but not daring to open it, "Maybe Don Paolo has tracked us down to where we live."
"It's nothing quite that sinister," Claire said, from where she'd appeared in the doorway, "I'm sorry Dimitri, I know that you told us never to give out our real names to anyone, but I had to tell him…"
"Had to tell who?" Dimitri asked, handing the letter over to her.
Claire answered, "Dr. Schrader. I'm not sure if you knew him, but he was Hershel's mentor before he graduated and… it felt a shame not to keep in contact with him."
"Very well," said Dimitri, trying not to worry himself too much over who could have found a letter with Claire's real name on while it was travelling through the post.
As they watched, Claire opened the letter and skim-read over it.
"He appears to have been researching something called the Elysian Box. Sounds like he's doing very well for himself," Claire cheerfully commented.
And that was when Dimitri felt it. For the first time since they'd come back from St. Mystere. The room was filled with an icy chill that only he seemed able to feel. Then came the voice.
"You need to go visit Dr. Schrader."
He almost asked it why, but then remembered that Claire and Flora were in the room. He didn't want to look crazy in front of them.
"Claire? How long as it been since you last saw Dr. Schrader?" Dimitri asked.
Something inside just felt like it was best to listen to this voice. Even if he knew nothing about it.
She rose an eyebrow, answering, "I haven't seen him since before the explosion. Don't worry; I'm not silly enough to go wandering back into London just like that."
"It's not that, I just thought that you might like to see him," Dimitri replied.
"I'd like to, but I know it's not going to happen," said Claire.
"Maybe it could," he offered, "It's been so long that we both look very different now. I'm sure we could make a brief trip to London without being recognised."
"You think so?" Claire blinked; she wasn't used to Dimitri disregarding caution so much.
"We're not going to dance on Bill's doorstep, are we?" reasoned Dimitri.
"Do you two not like the Prime Minister?" Flora cut in.
The looked at each other. That was one very big question to answer…
Choosing to ignore it, Dimitri went on, "It'd be good for Flora to see more of the world too. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Flora?"
"Oh yes, very much so," Flora cooed, clasping her hands together. She didn't understand why the two of them were so secretive about how they went about but she did understand a trip to the big city when it was offered to her.
"It's settled then, we'll leave tomorrow," Dimitri concluded.
"This is unlike you," Claire laughed, "But I can't say that I mind it."
Dimitri tried to stop his cheeks from colouring, stammering, "W-we better all go get ready then."
He then headed from the room, putting as much distance from himself and the source of his embarrassment as he could. The voice had seemed so firm about this. Perhaps he was going mad for him to even be hearing voices at all, let alone listening to them, but something about it felt… right. As if he could trust this mysterious person entirely.
By the next morning the three of them were in the car and headed for London. The first time two of them had been back there since the day after the explosion and the first time one of them had been there at all. There were nerves on Dimitri and Claire's end to say the least. On the other hand Flora was very much looking forward to seeing how different London life was to being in the country.
"Did you tell him we were coming?" Dimitri asked, in an attempt to start conversation.
"No, I thought it'd be a nice surprise," replied Claire, "He did leave me instructions on how to get to his house if I ever did decide to visit though. Would you believe that he left them in the form of a puzzle?"
"By this point, I'd almost expect that," Dimitri admitted, smiling. Layton had to have got his love of puzzles from somewhere.
"If it puts you at ease, I've already solved this one," Claire went on, "I can direct you to the exactly building that he lives in."
Taking her word for it, Dimitri let Claire lead them to the apartment Dr. Schrader currently called home. The three of them knocking on the door and waiting for a few moments. There came no answer.
"Perhaps he's out," Flora suggested.
"He's not out."
The whispered told him that.
"Move aside," Dimitri told them, taking a few steps back then ramping into the door once the other two had moved away. It crashed open under his weight. Inside was a sight that Dimitri should have been becoming accustomed to by now but still found extremely terrifying.
A dead body.
The body of Dr. Andrew Schrader.
"You might not want to look-"
It was already too late; Claire had rushed over and crouched down by the unfortunate man's side.
"Poor Dr. Schrader… I never thought that it would happen…" she sobbed.
"That what would happen?" Dimitri asked, heading over to stand with her.
Looking up at him, Claire confirmed, "He said that the Elysian Box he was researching had a curse. Th-that is was supposed to kill those who opened it. But Dr. Schrader never believed in that sort of thing…"
Never did I, before bodiless voices started telling me what to do, Dimitri thought to himself.
"Poor Doctor…" Flora sobbed.
"Clear aside, civilians," called a stern voice from the door.
Both Dimitri and Claire almost jumped out of their skins when they first saw who it belonged to. Inspector Chelmey. The real deal. Not just Don Paolo in a costume. Clearly he didn't recognise them, so he had to be the real thing.
They all moved out of the way, allowing him to have a closer inspection of the body. A short assistant following Chelmey was staring at them thoughtfully. He might well have seen both Dimitri and Claire's faces on some sort of wanted list before and was trying to place them. Silently, they prayed that his memory would fail him.
"What have you found, Inspector?" the short man asked, dismissing any thoughts of where he knew them from.
"Not very much, Barton, but I think we should treat any one of these people as suspects," Chelmey answered, looking at the three of them.
Well, this was a rather odd sense of déjà vu…
"Inspector, I think you're jumping to conclusions here," Dimitri began.
"Are you trying to tell me how to do my job? If not any of you then who could the suspect be?" Chelmey demanded.
Dimitri realised that he was actually pausing, waiting for the cold wave to give him the answer.
"I don't think you should tell him if he's just going to rely on you for the answers like that," came the distinct voice of a young boy, one of the two whisperers that only Dimitri could hear.
"Now, now, that would be rather mean. And besides, they need to get away from suspicion so they don't run the risk of being connected to the incident all those years ago," the more reasonable voice replied to the boy. Just as Dimitri was about to mouth the word 'please', his phantom informant said, "The window, Dimitri, there's something there that will tell you the truth."
"Well then?" Chelmey pressed, "I don't have all day."
"Look through the window," Dimitri echoed.
Grunting, Chelmey shuffled over to the have a look, and then exclaimed, "Great Scots! Someone's used a trail of curtain-line to escape to the next building! Have you ever heard of anything like it in this day and age, Barton? Barton! What are you doing just standing there? After them!"
"Yes sir!" gulped Barton.
The trio thought they were out of the woods, but then Chelmey rounded on them, barking, "And as for you three, I want you out of my crime scene this instant. Off with you!"
He ushered them out of the door.
"How very rude!" Flora huffed, spitting her tongue out at the closed door.
"He almost cost us a very important clue," Claire agreed.
"Almost?" Dimitri enquired.
"I'm not just here to stand around, you know," Claire teased, "Thanks to your distraction I managed to take this from Dr. Schrader's hand when the Inspector was looking out of the window."
She held out a fancy-looking ticket for a train line called the Molentary Express.
"That's evidence. Don't you think we should hand it over to Chelmey?" Dimitri said, looking at it.
"Where's your sense of adventure? Besides, you didn't show the other Chelmey the cog you found next to that Simon guy's body," Claire reminded him.
"I guess not. So what do you suppose we do next?"
"Isn't it obvious? We take a trip on the Molentary Express."
The three of them made their way to the station that the train was leaving from later that day. None of them knew exactly how much of a big deal the Molentary Express was until they actually got there. This trip was to be the train's debut, its proud owner, Mr. Beluga, waiting to send his beloved locomotive out into the world. Their ticket, along with two more that they'd purchased, was marked for this grand event, but none of them had been able to find the destination written anywhere on it.
That didn't seem to matter too much to the two girls, who were really more interested in adventure than where exactly they were going. Once it had left the platform, they headed up and down the train, talking to the unusual passengers and helping them with the puzzles they all seemed to have on their minds.
By the time they'd reached their first destination, a small village called Dropstone, Dimitri found that he'd come over quite tired. When the girls couldn't answer a puzzle they looked to him, and when he couldn't answer a puzzle he looked to his ghostly guide. It had even reached the point where the train had broken down and the voice had guided Dimitri through how to fix it. This was all getting rather out of hand.
So when Claire and Flora set out to explore Dropstone during a break in the train's schedule, Dimitri opted to stay on the carriage to rest. Perhaps this way he'd catch a break from voices from beyond.
No such luck.
"Dimitri?"
"Yes?"
Sitting alone with his eyes shut, Dimitri found he felt less conscious about talking out loud to whoever this was.
"Aren't you scared?" the younger one said.
"You two have been directing two of the most unusual days of my life, I think I'm past being scared," he replied.
"That's good news, it will make this considerably easier," answered the older one, "But you might be quite alarmed by what I'm going to tell you."
"Try me," Dimitri challenged.
"I'm Hershel Layton."
Dimitri's eyes snapped open.
No… just no. It couldn't be! Not after all of these years!
"H-hershel…?"
"Yes, the very same. I had as much of a hard time believing it as you probably are to begin with, since I was never… well, religious. But I've been sent back to this world to complete some tasks before I can pass on," Layton said.
Dimitri stared into space, whimpering, "…But why me…? Why not Claire…?"
"I tried to talk to Claire, I'll admit, but she cannot hear me. Few people can. Yourself and that Bruno fellow from St. Mystere being among them. So, as much as I apologise for using you like this, you're the one who has to help be perform these tasks," Layton went on.
"I'll do it," Dimitri whispered, "Well, I suppose I already have been anyway, but I'll do it now that I know it's you. I owe you… for what happened."
"What do you mean?" Layton asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"I killed you!" Dimitri choked.
There was a pause.
"No, you didn't. That was very definitely Bill Hawks," Layton told him, sternly.
As he said that, Layton felt Clive glare at him. Eyes silently asking if he knew more about who caused the explosion than he'd let on. But Layton could deal with Clive later.
"If I hadn't held Claire up…"
"Then it could very well have been her dead instead of me and neither of us want that," Layton answered, "You should stop blaming yourself for everything that happened. I certainly don't blame you. Now, I think I can hear your travelling partners returning, so we don't have anymore time. Just know that I'll be around if you need me. Oh, and the boy with me is called Clive, by the way, just if you were curious."
"All right," Dimitri whispered, as the door was pulled open and the ghosts fell silent. The two girls ran in, each looking equally cheerful.
"We had a great time in Dropstone," Flora chimed.
"It was very fun, Hershel would have loved it," Claire sighed dreamily, "Flora and I lost each other for a while, but we got back together in one piece. And you should have seen this girl who just got on the train – the daughter of the mayor. Her name's Katia, I think, and she was very pretty."
"That's nice," said Dimitri, only half taking in what she was saying amidst reflecting on what he'd just heard from the cold voice- …Layton. What he'd just heard from Layton.
All these tasks were to help him move on in the afterlife, he guessed. Presumably, when they'd gone to that curious village it had been because Layton was required to help set Flora free from her confined life. Even though he wasn't sure what the connection between Layton and Flora might have been. Maybe she was someone he might have met if he hadn't… if he hadn't died.
Meaning that today was also going to involve helping someone in a big way. Dr. Schrader? No, it was already too late for him. Maybe it was someone who they just hadn't met yet, like how they didn't come across Flora up until they were inside the tower. As much as he'd grown used to her being around, however, Dimitri really hoped this task wouldn't end in him receiving another adopted child…
"I'm sleepy…" Flora yawned.
"It has been a busy morning… Perhaps a nap wouldn't hurt…" Claire agreed, head slipping down as she fell into a deep sleep herself.
This didn't make any sense; they had been bubbly a few moments ago but were now unable to keep their eyes open. They weren't the only ones, however, as Dimitri found himself joining them in their sudden slumber.
By the time they all came around again it was dark. Not only that, the train had come to a complete halt. Getting up, Dimitri ran to the nearest door to see what was going on, with the others close behind.
There were lights everywhere. This new town looked quite vibrant in a creepy sort of way, but there was definitely something very off about it.
"This wasn't on the route…" Flora whimpered.
"Makes sense, I suppose," Dimitri mused, "A ticket with no destination written on it leading to a town that apparently doesn't exist. This is our stop."
"Dimitri?" Claire called, as they were getting off, "You might want to come have a look at this."
There was a photo of the town on the station. It was a rather nice image and seemingly harmless, until you saw that it was dated fifty years ago.
"Are we supposed to believe that this place hasn't changed in fifty years?" said Dimitri.
"Perhaps the date is just wrong." Claire shrugged.
"We'll see," Dimitri hummed.
Before they could think any further on that, however, they heard a voice from someone else getting off the train.
"Oi, you two!" Inspector Chelmey called, marching towards them, "You're the guys from the room this morning. What are you doing here?"
"The train ride was our next order of business after visiting Dr. Schrader," Dimitri said, thinking on his feet, "We thought that it might help take our minds off the tragedy that happened this morning."
"That's really weird behaviour," Chelmey commented, "But no matter, I just wanted to let you know, so you don't go poking your noses in, that we found the man who murdered Schrader and stole the Elysian Box."
"That's wonderful news, Inspector," Claire replied, although none of them had been informed of the box's theft at all.
"Did you get it back?" Flora asked, walking over from where she'd been looking around the town, "It'd like to see the cute goat symbol on the front again."
"Unfortunately, no," Chelmey grumbled.
A man was being dragged off the train. They recognised him as being Sammy Thunder, the rather eccentric conductor who had spoken to them a bit during the journey, the man was all hair and rock 'n' roll.
"Take it easy, Officer! It wasn't me!" Sammy protested as he was held still.
"Or it had better not be my nephew at any rate," growled the stout figure of Mr. Beluga, the train's owner, who followed out behind him.
"Sorry, Mr. Beluga sir, but there's really no one else it could be," Chelmey proclaimed, "We followed the trail to your train and out of everyone on it your nephew has the most ties to the Herzen family, save for yourself."
"Herzen family?" Claire echoed.
"It wasn't him, was it?" Dimitri whispered, hoping that Layton was around to guide him.
"The clue has already been dropped," Layton replied, "But if you need another one, I will remind you that none of you have actually seen the Elysian Box before."
No… they hadn't.
"With all due respects, I think that you're wrong, Inspector," Dimitri said.
"Second time today you've doubted my deductions. Let's have it then, genius," spat Chelmey.
Taking a deep breath, Dimitri stated, "Although I can't say when or why this happened I can tell you that none of us know what the Elysian Box looks like."
"Well, Scotland Yard did obtain a damaged photo of it, but the middle has been damaged…" agreed Chelmey.
"That's true, so none of us should know what the image on the box looks like. However, Flora here made a point of saying that she thought it had a cute goat mark on the front of it. Am I wrong in saying that your photo doesn't show a goat at all?" queried Dimitri.
"What's this? Are you going to accuse one of your own?" Chelmey muttered, which indirectly answered the question about the photo.
Flora was laughing quietly to herself. But something was very wrong about it. The laugh came out at a low hum, much lower than Flora's voice should be able to reach.
"Well done, Allen, you figured me out," she cackled, "After I went to all the trouble of setting this up as well. Do you realise how long it took me to find letters addressed to Claire. It wasn't easy to set up the trap, to deal with Dr. Schrader and steal the box."
"I don't understand, Flora," Claire mumbled.
Turning on her, Flora growled, "You always hurt me the most, Claire!"
"Claire…?" Barton muttered, frowning to himself in thought.
"You never recognise me even when I'm standing right in front of you!" Flora snapped.
Then she pulled off her mask to reveal a sight that horrified them all. That face did not belong to Flora at all, but was that of the moustached Don Paolo. He then ripped off the rest of the dress, thankfully having his own outfit on underneath it.
"Paul!" Claire screamed, "What have you done with Flora?"
"Oh, don't worry. That little brat is sleeping with the cows back in Dropstone from when I made the switch," Don Paolo sneered, "But it's always the same with you. You always want to talk about someone else. After all of the lengths I went to just to be near you!"
"While… dressing like her adopted daughter," added Dimitri, who was more than a little disturbed by this fact.
"You always have to have the last word!" shrieked Don Paolo, "But not this time! This time I show Claire my true feelings!"
"Your true feelings? You mean… you're attracted to me, Paul?" Claire asked, unsure whether to be flattered or scared.
"Well… I might, eh, maybe a little… yes," Don Paolo mumbled, cheeks colouring behind his moustache.
Walking over, Claire put her hand on his shoulder and said, "That's very sweet of you, really it is. I'm amazed that you'd go to such lengths. But… I'm just not interested in you like that. Hershel is the only man for me."
It was hard to be sure who was more hurt by this between Don Paolo and Dimitri, but Don Paolo was the one who spoke first.
"Oh… well I'm glad you were honest, I suppose… Since it's you I won't try to kidnap you and force you to be my wife…" he muttered.
"Thank you, I'm glad that you're being considerate," Claire agreed, "Now if you're not going to use it, could you give us back the Elysian Box?"
"O-of course! I have it right here," Don Paolo answered, taking out the fabled box and passing it over to Claire, "I might see you around…?"
"We'll see. Take care, Paul," Claire chimed, smiling sweetly as the rejected Don Paolo retreated back the way he came.
As he walked past Dimitri, Don Paolo did hissed, "You should watch out for that one, women are sneaky."
Then he was gone.
And in that moment, looking at Claire triumphantly clutching the prize, Dimitri was almost inclined to agree with him.
"I'll take that!"
Everyone was drawn back to reality by the tiny figure of Mr. Beluga jumping up to snatch the Elysian Box from Claire.
"What are you doing?" she shot.
"A precious Herzen heirloom like this should belong to me," Beluga told her, stroking the box.
Looking awkward, Chelmey confirmed, "Mr. Beluga is a descendant of the Herzen's family. Technically that box belongs to him."
"Yes, but he has no claim to that name," said a young lady with striking purple hair, coming over to their little group. Dimitri reasoned that she must be the Katia who Claire had mentioned earlier, but honestly she was just the next in a long line of unfamiliar faces for him today. The alleged Katia went on, "Mr. Beluga ran off from this place and from his family years ago. He has about as much right to the box as I do."
"And who might you be?" Beluga questioned, making sure he had tight hold of the box.
"Katia Anderson. The granddaughter of Sophia," the girl told him.
Whoever Sophia was she seemed to have some effect on Beluga, whose eyes widened in shock. He let go of the box, but Dimitri was quick on his feet and snatched it up before it hit the floor.
"It can't be…"
"I think that this man should keep the box for now," Katia said, pointing at Dimitri, "He's shown that he has a good intellect by figuring this all out and since he's not involved it would be safer with him. Unless the inspector has any objections."
"By all means, let him have it," sighed Chelmey, who was quite through with the prospect of arguing with women after seeing Claire talk down Don Paolo, "Nothing else to see here, move along."
He ushered away the protesting Beluga and his confused nephew Sammy, leaving Katia alone with Dimitri and Claire.
"Thank you," Katia said, "I was so nervous…"
"You did very well," Claire assured her, walking over.
"I hope so. None of this is what I had in mind when I set out to find my grandfather," Katia admitted, smiling at her.
"Your grandfather?" Dimitri enquired.
"Yes, he lives here, you see, in Folsense," Katia answered, "But I've never seen him before… So I came here to try and find him."
"Do you have any idea where he lives?" said Claire.
Katia looked up at the far end of the town, where a sinister castle loomed over them; "I believe he lives there. Since I woke up a while before anyone else I wandered around to search for information, but none of the locals will go there. They're all too scared of the absurd rumours of a vampire and the toxic gas that the old mines down that way leak out."
"That's all very well," Dimitri commented, "But… and forgive me for asking, why are you telling this to two complete strangers?"
"Oh, well it sounds mad when I say it out loud," Katia said, shuffling her feet, "You see… a voice told me to. It came over very cold and then I could hear a child telling me that it was very important I got back here to fill you in on what was going on, but there were no children around at the time. …You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
"N-no," Claire said, though her expression suggested that she was considering it, "Whatever happened I'm glad that you came back to help us. Mr. Beluga probably would have got away with the box otherwise. And to return the favour we'll escort you to the castle and help you find your grandfather."
"Um, what about Flora?" Dimitri cut in.
"She'll be fine for a while," said Claire, but her voice was echoed by that of Layton. Clearly if the ghosts thought that Flora was in no immediate danger there was no point in arguing with them.
"Very well, let's get going," Dimitri concluded.
As they walked, Claire and Katia gossiped with each other, giggling a little as Claire relayed the story of what happened with Don Paolo. Part of Dimitri felt very self-conscious, seeing that he had also confessed to having feelings for Claire so long ago. She had reacted very differently to his confession, however. He was probably just worrying too much.
Without any of that being brought up, they made it to Herzen Castle. It was icy at this time of year, so it took many attempts to get over the frozen lake, but eventually they made it to the door to be greeted by a rather confused looking butler.
"We don't get too many guests these days," the butler told them, "I'm sure the master will be thrilled."
"I am indeed, very pleased," said an attractive-looking blonde man who had walked over to the door to join the man, "Greetings, my dear travellers. I am Anton and this is my butler, Nigel. You have come at a very special time indeed; we are in the middle of a ball."
He stepped aside to let them through. To their surprise, once out of the hallway and into the ballroom they could see that what Anton claimed was true – the room was filled with extravagant guests, all in the middle of a waltz. It was… bizarre. There had been not much sound from outside and none of the people they had past on the way here mentioned any parties, and yet here were all these people, clearly in the middle of a celebration.
"Oh my…" Katia gasped, though it seemed as if she was more shocked by Anton himself than the party.
"It is you who I am most interested in dancing with, my lady," Anton said, taking Katia's hand. Before she had a chance to respond, he had whisked her away into the middle of the dance floor.
Dimitri backed up a little, and then whispered, "Hershel, do you have any ideas about this? Is it all an illusion of some sort?"
"If you really need me to tell you what to do when you're standing on the edge of a dance floor with a lady then you're beyond my help," Layton commented innocently and Dimitri could almost picture him smirking.
"But she's your… I'm…" Dimitri stammered.
"Is something the matter?" Claire asked, looking back at him.
"N-nothing," he gulped, looking up at her, "Would you… c-care to, um, care to dance…?"
She laughed, regarding him with disbelief. She was going to reject him, he knew it, and it was stupid of him to even ask-
"Of course."
"What?"
"You wanted to dance, didn't you? Then let's dance," Claire confirmed, taking him out onto the dance floor and starting to follow the example of the other guests.
She'd clearly had more practise at this than he did and he would have been embarrassed to say that she was the one leading them if it wasn't for the fact that he was too elated with her accepting his offer to care about embarrassment at all. They moved around the floor, looking each other in the eyes and trying not to laugh awkwardly. Just for that moment Dimitri felt as if he could forget about Layton and everything that had happened and just enjoy being here with Claire.
"Get off me!"
The moment was broken by Katia's screech. As they looked over they could see her pulling away from Anton.
"I don't understand, Sophia, I thought you'd come back for me," Anton reasoned, trying to tug her back, "Isn't this the perfect reunion that you wanted?"
"I'm not Sophia!" Katia screamed, darting over to hide behind Dimitri and Claire.
The formerly pleasant face of Anton turned sour with anger. He glared at Dimitri savagely.
"So that's how it is. You've come back here with your new man to flaunt it under my nose," he spat, "Well let's see how he holds up when I cut him into ribbons!"
He pulled a sword out from a suit of armour on the edge of the room, charging towards Dimitri with alarming speed. The three of them only just managed to scatter to different sides of the room as the 'guests' from the party disappeared into the smoke that they truly were.
"What should I do?" Dimitri called out in panic.
"There's another suit of armour holding a sword," Layton said.
Backing up from Anton, who was coming in for a second attack, Dimitri said, "I've never used a sword before…"
"No, and an amateur endangers both himself and others," agreed Layton, "I'll have to get Katia to talk reason into him, please try to keep him distracted."
Before Dimitri could even comment on that being easy for him to say, the cold feeling had disappeared and presumably Layton had gone to talk to Katia. For a short while it was all Dimitri could do to keep Anton away from the two girls. He could feel Claire watching him in confused horror.
Just when he felt himself run out of energy and collapse, before Anton's blade could strike him, Katia made her stand.
"Grandfather, stop!" she yelled.
Freezing, Anton growled, "What do you mean 'grandfather'?"
"That's who you are," Katia told him, walking closer; "I'm not Sophia, but her descendant."
"Sophia… Sophia was not with child," Anton argued.
"She was, that's why she left here. It wasn't because she didn't love you… she just knew that it was too dangerous to risk raising a child here," Katia said, close to tears, "She knew you were too stubborn to leave…"
Collapsing to his knees, Anton whispered, "Oh, my sweet Sophia… B-but that doesn't make any sense… Why are you so old, child?"
"The question is more, why are you so young?" reasoned Katia, "It's been fifty years since then."
"The gas from the mines," Claire said, walking over.
"Is someone telling you the answers too?" Katia mumbled.
"No, I just worked it out on my own," Claire answered, raising an eyebrow, "After hearing all this talk about toxic gas from the mines it was easy to find the answer. That's why people avoid this place. And for this man to have been living here for so long without dying he must be heavily under the influence of it. This whole thing is a hallucination."
"So he's…?"
When Dimitri turned back to Anton, before he could even finish that question, instead of the young man who had been sitting there just before there was a shrivelled, white-haired individual who was sobbing into his granddaughter's arms.
"I just wanted her to come back to me…" Anton whimpered.
"And she did," said Katia softly. She motioned for Dimitri to give her the Elysian Box and when he had done, past it across to Anton. "My grandmother left a message in here for you."
There were tears from both of them as Anton read out the heart-felt message that Sophia had left him before she'd past away. Even Claire sniffed a little, settling down next to them.
"I suppose I should give up the ghost and go back to my family…" Anton admitted.
"We'd like that, really we would," Katia agreed.
"I know how hard it must be for you," Claire said, looking over at Anton, "I too had someone I loved very dearly but lost. And though I wait every day I know that he'll never come back. Giving up… is near impossible."
Dimitri's heart shattered for a second time.
So that was it. He thought that they were finally making progress and that Claire was maybe reaching the stage where she could move on, but no. It was still all about Hershel Layton. Why had he expected otherwise?
"Dimitri, is everything all right?" Claire asked, looking over at him.
"Yes. I'd just better go tell Inspector Chelmey what's going on," he muttered, turning to leave before she could say anything else.
He didn't make it far out of the castle before he saw Chelmey and Barton rushing over to him anyway. Judging from their expressions the message was at least a good one.
"There you are, my fellow," Chelmey puffed, a little out of breath, "We have some excellent news! You're not going to believe this, but Dr. Schrader was not dead at all. He had been knocked out by hallucinogenic gas this whole time. Shocking, eh?"
"Perhaps not as much as you might think, Inspector."
It didn't take long to fill them both in about Anton, the mysterious gas and the Elysian Box. By the time he had finished, Claire, Katia and Anton had made it out of the castle. The Herzen family were pulled aside for questioning and, after Claire had been informed about Dr. Schrader, she and Dimitri were allowed to go.
"Katia spoke about hearing voices after you left," Claire started, as they walked away, "I did think she was a bit out of it at first, I confess, but then she said that she thought you were hearing them to."
And there was that moment.
He knew that he could very well tell Claire that he had been hearing these voices and they had led them on this adventure. Most of all, he could tell her that the one giving him guidance was Layton. Her beloved Layton. The man she truly wanted to be here instead of Dimitri.
It was that thought that stopped him.
"I'm not sure what she's talking about," Dimitri mumbled, "Let's go pick up Flora."
"All right…" Claire replied. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but decided not to press the matter further.
"Here we are again, watching the two of them leave some strange place," Layton said to Clive, rather glumly, as the other two walked away, "At least that's two lives helped…"
"They seem to be having a bit of a… um, they're not getting on very well," Clive commented.
"I fear for that," agreed Layton.
"Who is the next person you need to save, Mr. Layton?" asked Clive.
Sighing out a breath that didn't exist, Layton answered, "There are a few detours, but the next people I need to save… are Dimitri and Claire."