Shorter chapter now, but powerful. Really powerful. We finally get to elaborate on the prologue. This is like the epilogue to the first chapter. And, I promise this is the last chapter of Union and Reunion. The next chapter, we will begin the trial sequence. And please review again. Thank you.

Feenie.

X

"Nothing." Ema explained crossly. "Absolutely positively definitely nothing. We are stuck."

The Professor coughed politely. "Erm, are you sure that absolutely nobody found anything?"

Ema was getting very flustered. "Well, either they are very good at hiding it, or they dropped it. No leads, no evidence, no witnesses. Not a sausage."

It was late in the afternoon. The meeting was obviously long and painful, because Ema was chomping down biscuit after biscuit, saying they were 'too valuable' to throw at anyone. Apparently, she had missed lunch.

"Did you check the village?" Flora asked.

"We still haven't obtained a search warrant for the village." Ema explained. "But that is the only place that anything could possibly be. Otherwise, we are doomed to an immortal mystery."

"Are you serious? Do you not even have any idea at all?" Athena asked. She had packed up her work at the office, and was tagging along with the Professor and Flora before they headed back to her house.

Ema shook her head and sighed. "I think we may be here tomorrow."

The 4 of them stood in silence for a moment. The Professor punctured it.

"Well, thank you anyway, Ms. Skye. I hope to see you again soon." He said, a dejected look sat firmly on his face. Ema smiled sadly and walked off towards the crowd of officers.

Flora changed the subject. "Don't forget, Professor, we still have to talk to Luke. How do we keep forgetting? It's his mystery we need to solve."

The Professor smiled. "I didn't forget. Did you, Athena?"

Athena smiled back. "Wouldn't dream of it, Professor."

They both turned to Flora. Her face fell, and then she laughed. Flora was very good at laughing.

Athena produced her house key from nowhere. It glinted silver in the Professor's eyes as she thrust it into the lock. The door swung open.

There was a light on in the sitting room, and they each heard movements. At that moment, the door at the end of the corridor opened. Luke's familiar face peaked around it, smiling broadly.

"Hi again." He said, beaming. Athena walked over to him, and they embraced. The Professor and Flora followed awkwardly, as the party returned to the sitting room.

They sat, and chatted. About the Professor's work. About Athena's work. About Luke's apparently exhausting work. About Flora's part-time work. About the weather. Then back to Athena's work. And so on.

Finally, the subject turned to the thing on everyone's minds. Luke, Athena, Flora and the Professor all knew that it would come up eventually. They all felt it was too weird to bring it up directly. But eventually, Luke decided it was too much.

"Well, I suppose we should talk about my mystery, Professor"

The Professor swallowed lightly and resat himself.

"Yes, Luke." He exclaimed nervously. "I suppose we'd better had. What exactly happened?"

Luke sighed. "It was about a month ago, and I was walking in the local park. I think I was actually expecting to meet Athena. I don't remember it all too well. Anyway, I saw a figure about 100 metres away from me. It was a dark night, so I couldn't see them all too well."

"What time of night was it?" The Professor asked.

"Late, that's for sure. Around 10:30, 10:40 maybe. Anyway, the figure began to walk towards me. Slowly, but definitely towards me. I began to see them better. They seemed to be glowy, or somehow, emitting light. It was female. Somehow, she managed to get to me quicker than I could imagine, even though she was walking at such a slow pace. And at around 25 metres, I realised exactly who it was…"

The Professor nodded grimly. "Aurora."

Flora perked up suddenly. "But… Professor…. Isn't she dead?"

The Professor nodded back at her. Mentioning her name brought back many painful memories. Like Sycamore, or Bronev or….

He dared not dredge up past tragedies. There was no time like the present, a friend had told him. Perhaps the present here was too painful.

"It was her. I would recognise her absolutely anywhere," Luke continued. "And when she got to me, she reached for my face. She touched my cheek, but I felt nothing. She was simply… not there, and there at the same time."

Athena was getting fidgety. Luke had told her of Aurora before. But now she was back…

"I ran. I ran away. I was scared. She couldn't exist, she just couldn't," He exclaimed. A tiny tear surfaced in his eye, and ran slowly down his cheek, before dripping off onto his sleeve.

"I need to know. Professor. Find out what is happening, and how Aurora is here. I need one explanation. Please!"

Luke was breaking down. Aurora had been someone very dear to him and he obviously had to fight for this explanation.

Athena stepped in before the Professor had time to speak. "Lukey, you should go to bed. You're obviously really stressed out, y'know?"

Luke steeled himself. "Of course." He did not look at anyone as he left the room with his fiancé.

The Professor and Flora sat in stunned silence for a while. It didn't feel appropriate to talk. They were just thinking. He knew something bad would come of this. But he couldn't deny Luke's request, especially not after he had opened up to them like that.

Eventually, Athena came back down. "He says he's had a long day and he's going to get an early night."

Flora looked at her watch, which she had remembered to set to American time. It read 8:34. "Very early." She muttered.

"Do you think he's okay, I've never seen him like this." The Professor asked. "And you're the only person who knows Luke better than his parents, or me."

He then remembered. "Oh, yes, of course, I forgot, how are his parents? They are old friends of mine."

Athena swallowed. "Well, Brenda is great. She lives in the inner city."

The Professor prompted her. "And… I assume Clark lives with her."

She knew this was coming. She bowed her head. "Well, I didn't want to be the one who had to say this, but… Luke's father is… dead."

The Professor was afraid of those words. He really didn't want them to be true. But he couldn't hide from it.

"I'm sorry." Was all Athena could think of to say.

The Professor didn't speak. He stared into the middle distance for a while. Then, he got up and walked to the door. "I shall retire early tonight. Goodnight, Athena. Goodnight, Flora."

He left.

Flora and Athena said nothing.