Around the time Professor Layton first arrived in Misthallery, Elaine herself was wondering if she would ever find anything worthwhile that she could translate. That way at the least, it would have lifted her spirits up a bit more. So when the small group did find a seal hidden under the lake before Loosha had revealed it, she felt a bit of pride in being able to translate the riddle of the seal while the Professor had managed to unlock the seal for all of them to enter.
To say the sight of the Golden Garden would have made Elaine drool had she lacked dignity would have been a bigger understatement then saying Descole was willing to hurt people.
Of course the entire thing hadn't gone out how Elaine herself had imagined the scenario. She figured that with everyone gone she alone would find it herself and as such would gain a majority of credit for it. It was vain of her to think like that, Elaine could admit to that. But in all fairness, with the others gone she had been doing work, all on her own. Plus, being a fairly honest person she couldn't have ignored that Professor Layton had solved the riddle so a good amount of credit would have gone to him.
Elaine couldn't deny that she felt a little bitter about that. She had been here for ages but found little to relate to the Golden Garden, yet Professor Layton was only here a few days and suddenly the Garden is found. But thinking it out reasonably, to start holding a grudge against the Professor would have been a bit childish and ignorant. The Garden was found and that's all that should matter. True, for a while it would have to remain a secret for the time being. Young Arianna needed it more the field of archaeology did since the clean air would help her health. To deny her that would have made Loosha's sacrifice before her death vain.
Yes. It was still good. There was good to come out of this so Elaine could smile a bit thinking about it. Besides, being the only archaeologist from the excavation team to know, that gave her a head start on everyone else! Making notes and attempted diagrams of different plants and such. Attempted sine Elaine had never been the best artist. At most, she could make rough sketches and it would still not be perfect in her eyes.
She knew that Professor Layton was planning to make his own report to publish as soon as Arianna got better. Being a university professor and all. But Elaine would be ahead of the rest of her colleagues. That alone made her happier then she had been. There was also an added bonus to this.
Doing this work now, within the Golden Garden, felt like insulting Descole. And that alone made this a whole lot sweeter.
But with all her notes being made day by day, she had a twinge of paranoia. Paranoia wasn't exactly the best word but close enough. After the incident with Descole, she was a bit more protective of her work. Even when she was just simply admiring the tropical-like scenery, that tiny cloud of possibilities rained over her. Even from the back of her mind when she tried to shove them away.
However, she was able to find a way to shove these worries away.
Clark Triton, the now ex-mayor of Misthallery, had been very kind to offer Elaine to store her notes and such in his family home until she left to head back to London. The brief wonder if felt partially responsible for her encounter of Descole in some way, but she didn't bring it up. That thought might not have been on the man's mind and his offer may have simply been out of kindness.
One could argue if it was safe to leave her work under the Triton's roof, but in comparison to leaving it all in a tent when you are the only person to guard it, it seemed like the perfect decision. He, along with his wife Brenda, even invited her to dinner every so often. And since Elaine's main diet since she came here has been rice and bread rolls, she felt no need to deny the invitation.
"Merci again for the dinner, it was very lovely." Elaine said as she prepared to make her leave.
"It was no trouble. Are you sure you don't want to spend the night? It is getting late?" Brenda offered, not for the first time. While better compared to when they were just released from their imprisonment, both Brenda and Doland Noble still retained a bit of paleness even while most of it had faded, and having only been fed enough to keep them from starving they had lost some weight during that time. Elaine was sure she could still faintly see some dark shadows under their eyes. She also noticed that her son Luke seemed to gain more of her looks then from his father.
"Non, I should get back to the excavation site. I need to sort through some things. I'll probably 'ave to start packing some things soon. I'll 'ave to go back to London eventually. Can't exactly stay out 'ere forever, can I?"
"No, I suppose not." Brenda gave a small smile. "When do you plan to leave exactly?"
"Er, well I'm due back in around a month I think," Elaine said, thinking it over, "Though, I plan to vist ma famille at least a week before 'and so I suppose within three weeks."
"Will you need to call your colleagues to take some equipment away?"
"I was planning too some time during the week."
"Well you're welcome to use the phone here if you need to call them."
"Merci, and merci again for letting me keep the, er... More important notes 'ere."
"It's no trouble whatsoever."
"Well, I better get going now. Merci et bonne nuit." Elaine said, before making her leave into the night. Walking in a calm, relaxed manner, but becoming more tense when near darker corners. While she would never admit to it, a part of her had always been somewhere between nervous and afraid of walking alone at night. Possibly a fear instilled in her from an uncle back in France who worked with the police and told her, along with her cousin Madeline, horror stories of incidents that happened to women who had simply been minding their own business as they walked darkened streets. Madeline never seemed as bothered by those stories but a part of Elaine was. But yet she forced herself to walk to and from home and the London museum each day, even if it was dark. Trying to force what she believed to be an irrational fear out of her.
Arriving at the site, Elaine first went to the tent where she had put several fake documents. She easily faked them by simply writing nonsense in French. Why? She figured if someone did try and take anything related to the Golden Garden, then at least they would have gotten fake materials. Looking through the papers she made, it seemed they were all there still. Although, one or two weren't in the exact order she recalled them being in. But this thought was ignored. It was probably her imagination.
After putting them down, Elaine thought to herself what she would do now. She could just go to bed, but she wasn't feeling completely tired just yet. The thought of the wine bottle she brought came to mind. She had yet to open it, so why not drink it now. Her mind first wandered to remembering where she had put the glasses but halted it. As long as no one knew, what harm did drinking from the bottle do? Maybe she'll find one glass though and pour a little in. Just in case someone does come up so she can pretend she wasn't drinking straight from the bottle.
But she doubted that would happen and planned to really let her hair down for the rest of the night.
So she went into her tent, a relaxed smile on her face as she lit up the hanging lamp. But the smile quickly turned into a frown. The first feeling of unease in her stomach came from the sight of the wine bottle in question, opened on the table and poured into two wineglasses. A part of her just wanted to leave right away, but she spotted something else on the table. But the dim lighting kept it from being identified. She had a faint idea from what she could make out, but wanting to make sure, she took tentative steps towards the table and hesitantly picked up the item in question.
It was a short scarf, in a shade of light blue. Strange. It looked like the one she had...
Elaine's eyes widened and the scarf slipped from her hand as her feet moved backwards automatically. But that was before she felt a small chain press against her throat. She yelped and gripped onto it, trying to tug it away desperately as she choked. Letting out the much needed air that was escaping her. Her own panic certainly wasn't helping her out either. She wanted to kick, to move her legs or even try to duck down under the chain, anything! But fear was causing her mind to become muddled.
"Not so nice on the receiving end, is is Hawthorne?" Elaine should have known she had not seen the last of him, as he spoke with the sneer clear in his voice. But with the chain suddenly no longer pressing against her throat, she stumbled foreword and gripped onto the chair at the table. Her other hand going to her throat where she could faintly feel the marks left by chains, coughing as she reluctantly looked back behind her.
Descole stood at the entrance, the handcuffs used to choke her still in hand. He seemed to be apathetic as she could not tell what exactly he was feeling though Elaine was sure it was rage.
"You're smarter then I expected Hawthorne." His voice held no praise. Just spoken as facts as he walked up to her side and helped himself to one of the glasses. "But not smart enough. I may not be fluent in the French language but I know enough to tell you just wrote anything you could think of in those notes. No doubt the Tritons have something to keep them safe. Otherwise you likely wouldn't have trusted them to hold such details." Elaine's eyes widened as she heard that. How did he...?
"Did you really think I would just forget about you?" He questioned casually. As if about the weather. He took a sip of the wine before he went continued. "No. There is much to be done yet. Much more."
"Such a shame I don't agree." Elaine muttered as she let go of the chair to move back quickly. But Descole was faster and grabbed her by the front of her shirt and lifted her up high enough just for her feet to hover over the ground.
"If I hadn't spent so much time talking with you then I would have possibly called you a dullard by now, you silly, silly girl. There was never a choice for you. Ever." Descole took another sip. "You have good taste. Not what I would have used for tonight, but still." Elaine scowled and kicked hard at his stomach. It seemed he didn't expect that one as he grunted in pain and let the brunette go. Elaine backed away quickly, her eyes looking out for something to defend herself. She may have been a good kick boxer in college, but most of her strength was in her legs and she doubted she could just kick Descole non-stop.
Descole sighed and put the glass down.
"You always do things the hard way, don't you Hawthorne?"
Elaine didn't wait any longer. She turned around to run. Planning to go to the first house she could. Even if she had to run to the Triton or Barde estates!
But she was caught again. And no sooner had her hand been caught and pulled behind her back, had a cloth been pressed over her mouth and nose. Strong fumes forcing a tiredness over Elaine. She weekly tried to pull away, but it was in vain.
The last thing she heard was a simple chuckle.
OMAKE THEATRE! Where Layton characters are chibi-fied!
"So why are we 'ere?" Elaine questioned Descole as she looked up at the castle. It was a strange one in her mind. It was resting on what in Elaine's mind was an amount of rock as thin as a needle. Elaine didn't even want to go over the bridge but was forced to by the masked bastard beside her.
"Because people have been spreading rumours that I've been fornicating with the owner of this castle and frankly I don't like it. So I'm getting to the source of this problem to cease it." Descole responded.
"But… Why am I 'ere?"
"Because Raymond's the only one who knows how to makes the horses move and needs to be with them in case we need a quick getaway, and I might need back up here."
"… Oh."
It was by then that the door opened, and a butler with a noise bigger then Sarah Jessica Parker's appeared. He was grey skinned Elaine was tempted to ask if he needed a blood transfusion. Before the butler could speak, Descole spoke arrogantly.
"Alright, parrot-human bastard. I want to talk to your master. Now!"
"… This way." The butler muttered after a small sigh. He was use to the insults regarding his pointy nose by now. He wanted a raise to pay for plastic surgery but his master was pretty stingy. More stingy then Scrooge really. And that's saying a lot.
So our heroine and her-… Heroine and… The closest thing to a hero in this story ("HEY!") were led through the halls. During which, Descole whispered to Elaine,
"Ms. Hawthorne, for the love of God don't look directly into his eyes. They say the owner of this place too beautiful for mortal eyes, and is a descendent of Duke Venomania and is the only known descendent to have the same power of the Sin of Lust as his ancestor."
"… Seriously?"
"Serious as a motherfucker."
Eventually, they arrived to a room a window that was actually from the house of Aunt Josephine from 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. If you know the story, you would know the window should be ruined, but the master of the house ordered the butler, Nigel, to find every single piece and have the window placed in the castle to view the moon.
The very master was standing in front of it, staring at the moon. This is how he greeted all guests to be honest. He had secret sensors put up to sense when people are several minutes away, so that he could go and stand in front of the window and looking to the sky or moon before looking to said guest. This would create a dramatic effect. It worked best at night, and was perfect during a full moon.
Why did he greet his guests this way?
He had nothing better to do.
Anyway, he was fairly young looking, with the softest looking blonde hair and most beautiful shade of green eyes you could ever imagine. Sure enough he had to have been to most beautiful man in the world and on one or two occasions had been asked out by men having mistaken him for a woman.
"Ah, welcome to my…" But he trailed off once he saw Descole, and his eyes gained a demented gleam filled with lust and passion.
Descole already felt ill and wanted to vomit.
"Descole~." The man cooed, walking towards said man who was firmly standing his ground. "I was hoping you would arrive. I have a restaurant table reservation followed by a walk on the beach before a bed for two with our names on it~."
"He is beautiful." Elaine murmured, briefly enchanted by this man before snapping out of it long enough to ask, "What's your name?"
"I, am Duke Anton Herzen-." Said Duke stopped however as he noticed Elaine. He stared at her before glaring at Descole. "Who the hell is this?"
"Er, this is Elaine Hawthorne. I… took her to live and work for me… Without her permission."
"You kidnapped me!" But Elaine's yell went unnoticed quickly enough as Anton glared in jealously.
"You're… cheating on me with this Parisienne harlot?!" Elaine frowned.
"I'm not a 'arlot, and I'm from Burgundy-.!"
"Shut up, you!" Anton hissed towards Elaine before looking back to Descole.
"I wait for you to finally come to me, after convincing people that we're meant to be! And this is what you do?! You bringing your Roxanne-wannabe with you?! What is wrong with you! This is supposed to be our night! What are we supposed to do with this third wheel!" Anton pointed sharply at Elaine. "I want her gone, now!"
"I'd rather not loose the closest thing I have to protection here." Descole muttered.
"Well you have to make a choice damn it!" Anton shrieked. Stomping the ground hard with his foot.
"It's either me, the Sexy Duke of Folsense, Anton Herzen! Or that home wrecker French-be-otch!"
END OF PART ONE!
