A/N: ...I have no excuse beyond I lost my notes with the plot points of Last Specter...that I am still recreating... ^^'
~§¤§~
Luke spared another glance at the man and woman with him as they walked down the streets of Misthallery. They were helping him, but at the same time…
He pressed closer to the professor when he saw one of the cops look right at him. Descole had talked with the police chief several times during his imprisonment, which meant the cops may have been hunting for him.
"Luke? Are you all right?"
Luke made no response to the professor's question but did manage to briefly flick his eyes upward. Hershel Layton—he had been a friend of his father's when they were younger. But…that was all he knew. His father simply refused to speak of his life before Misthallery, and Luke couldn't even recall why his father had brought up the professor in the first place.
"Professor, we still have yet to find anything here," Emmy commented while looking anywhere but at Luke. "There are no signs that it'll be attacking here—how sure are we on Brenda's prediction?"
"No one has been harmed in the attacks due to town evacuations, so Brenda must have learned of tonight's attack from whoever has been encouraging the evacuations. Perhaps after nightfall, we may start seeing more signs."
Emmy let out a huff and glanced down at Luke. Why were they bringing him along with them? "Shouldn't we bring Luke to his parents?" she whispered quiet enough for the boy to not hear, though he gave no indication he was even aware of the adults' conversation. "I don't think bringing him with will do much good."
Layton glanced down to confirm Luke's lack of attention towards their conversation and explained, "Brenda lied to us about where he was for a reason. Until I know what that reason is, I'm not comfortable with letting him out of our sight."
Emmy pursed her lips at the answer and gave a small nod. "All right. We'll focus on the specters, then we can work on that mystery…"
"My thoughts exactly." Layton looked down at the boy again, then looked around the town. "We may not be able to simply find the specter, though, so we may need to find lodging for the night and wait…"
"That looks like a hotel over there," Emmy commented while pointing to a building at the end of the street. "Maybe that'll be the best place to stay."
"Good eye, Emmy." Layton gently put a hand on Luke's shoulder and helped to guide him towards the hotel Emmy pointed out while she walked beside them.
The entire walk, Luke remained unresponsive to his surroundings. Every so often, Layton would need to tighten his grip on the small boy's shoulder and guide him from any obstacles. When they finally approached the hotel, Layton couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief at the fact no one paid them much mind. Despite being almost entrapped in his mind, Luke probably wouldn't be able to handle too much probing from curious townsfolk.
"What are you lot doing here?" a man by the counter asked. "I thought this area was blocked off!"
'Then what are you doing here?' Emmy thought to herself as Layton stepped forward with Brenda's pardon in hand.
"We're here at the request of Brenda Triton. She wanted us to investigate the specter attacks." Layton handed the letter to the man and continued, "We were hoping we could stay in your hotel as a place to wait for the specter."
"Hm… Well, I can't say no to the mayor's wife… All right, I'll let ya stay the night. I'm not gonna be responsible if you get hurt by the specter, though!"
The professor let out a small chuckle at the condition before continuing the check-in process.
~§¤§~
Professor Layton watched the young, mentally and physically damaged boy with worried eyes as the child stared out the hotel window. Since they had arrived from the small hospital, Luke seemed blank as a cleaned chalkboard.
"Professor, could this specter even be real?" Emmy asked, trying to distract Layton from some of his worries.
"We'll have to wait and see," the professor replied, pulling a seat next to the boy. It panged the professor on the inside, seeing the dullness in the child's eyes. "See anything, Luke?" The ten-year-old gave only the tiniest shake of the head. Hearing the sound of tea being served, Layton accepted the two cups from Emmy. He handed one to Luke, who simply nodded in acknowledgment and sipped the warm liquid. He saw his mouth move, as if mouthing a 'thank you'.
The sound of a flute rang through the town. Luke stood up from the chair.
"Is that… music?" Emmy asked. "Where's it coming from?"
"Emmy!" Layton called. Outside, a huge shadow with large claws approached. "Is that...?"
"The specter...!" Emmy quickly went to grab her camera. The professor looked down at the boy and his poor heart nearly stopped when he saw the child's look of fear. The shadow's red eyes stared down at them before it swiped at the building, breaking the lights. Luke fled to the other side of the room to the best of his condition.
"Let's go!" The professor headed to the door to follow the specter, but was stopped when Luke firmly grabbed his jacket and stared at him with desperation, as if begging him to not go outside. Just then, the group heard the flute again.
"Where is that coming from?" Emmy wondered. Seeing that there was no time, Layton knelt down to Luke's level.
"Luke, I understand that you're frightened. We need to investigate the specter, though—especially if we want to reunite you with your parents, since I doubt your capture and the specter's appearances are entirely unrelated. However, I'm going to need you to stay with myself and Emmy unless we tell you otherwise. Can you do that?"
Luke looked to the side for a moment in thought before finally looking back at Layton and nodding.
"All right. Let's go look for the specter, then."
Layton stood up and led Luke to the doorway Emmy was standing at before all three of them ran down the hotel stairs and through the lobby until they were outside. The strange flute music seemed to be echoing around them, but parts of it were drowned out by the sounds of destruction the specter caused as it went through Misthallery.
"This can't be real…" Emmy muttered at the sight of the creature destroying the surrounding buildings.
"But it is…"
Emmy shot off to run after the specter, but Layton made sure to stay with Luke as they made their own way after the creature. Soon enough, though… it disappeared, and shortly after, so did the flute music.
"How curious…" Layton muttered while looking around at the damage done to the town. "Where was that music coming from?"
Luke shrugged and clung closer to the Professor's jacket while they walked in the direction Emmy had gone. That was the specter Emmy must have been asking him about when she and the professor found him…
…Why did it seem almost…familiar to him?
~§¤§~
A/N: ...I don't know when the next one will be up. I'm sorry.