Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Professor Layton franchise.

Overall Summary: A curse has dawned upon the town of Nemhat. A desperate princess calls upon the help of Professor Layton, who journeys to Egypt with his loyal apprentice. Here they find adventure, mysteries and an old friend they haven't seen in years.

Summary chapter 1: AU where Luke has never left to go to America with his parents and continues to stay as the professor's faithful apprentice and assistant. This story is set 1 year after the unwound future which makes the lad roughly 16 years old. Emmy did not join the newspaper, but has been travelling the world searching for adventures on her own. She has not had contact with the professor or Luke since she said her goodbye.

Chapter 1 Veiled connections

The market place was busy as always. Emmy sneaked her way around, her eyes darting through the sand filled streets. She had grown familiar to the environment and knew which stalls to look out for. She checked to make sure her Niqab* was still in place. She wanted her identity to stay hidden after all. After careful examination, she confirmed her plan. All had been calculated and set in place. There was no way this could go wrong. She slid past a merchant, transporting a cart filled with pastries and exotic fruits. The pastries gave off an amazing smell, making her stomach grumble. Now wasn't the time or place to divulge in personal needs. She needed to be focussed.

At the end of the market was a large clearing with a view of the desert. It still marveled her to what extent the box of sand stretched out. She walked up to her purpose, the stand she visited weekly, which sold bottles of clean water. She had run out and needed to stay hydrated in the terging heat of the Sahara. She placed her money on the wooden stall and slid it towards the merchant behind the counter. He looked at her with the same grimace he showed her every week. He wasn't too keen on strangers, is what he told her the week she arrived. Thankfully for her, he still sold his wares to said strangers. He pulled out a carton of 6 large water bottles and handed it over to Emmy. She placed it under her arm and turned around, only to be met with a broad right shoulder. She dropped the water to the ground and grunted. Just her luck.

The man that she had bumped into spit to the ground and laughed as she quickly tried to pick up the bottles. The merchant behind the stand wasn't the only one with discriminatory tendencies. Before he walked off, he kicked one of the bottles, making it roll through several pairs of feet over the market. Emmy had gathered the remainder of her possessions and quickly bolted after the final bottle. Just 5 bottles wouldn't be enough. She looked around and saw the bottle had landed close next to a set of green shoes. Green shoes that seemed oddly familiar. The bottle was picked up by the owner of said familiar shoes, which made Emmy look up to face the gentlemen. Her eyes widened when she saw who exactly was in front of her. The face she hadn't seen in many years. The gentleman turned around towards her and flashed one of his curt smiles.

''Is this yours miss?'' He asked politely.

He hadn't recognized her yet. Thank the gods. She nodded and averted her gaze. Her eyes were the only thing visible to him at the moment. He shouldn't be able to identify her. But she knew how clever and perceptive he was. She mumbled a quiet and slightly distorted 'Thanks' and grabbed the bottle out of his hand. A sudden pang of anxiety struck her in the chest. She quickly turned around and started moving back into the crowd of the market. Fate, however, was unkind to Emmy Altava and once again she was pushed by a random inhabitant. She stumbled a bit, but thankfully regained her posture to keep her strut going. What she didn't know was that she had dropped a rather important item. An item that would help a certain professor of archeology identify her.

The professor looked at the spot in the crowd where the curious lady had vanished. He didn't know why, but there was something about her that gave him an odd feeling. The way her eyes had widened when she came face to face with him, the way she seemingly changed her voice slightly. Almost as if she didn't want to be recognized. That would be strange. He came to Nemhat together with his apprentice to answer the call of a princess in trouble. The small and prosperous Egyptian town wouldn't be a place where he expected to see anyone he recognized. Unless there were colleagues here to aid the princess as well, he was sure they were the only brits in the surrounding area.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a crash coming from behind him. He turned around to see his apprentice clumsily holding the remainder of their luggage. The rest had fallen inelegantly to the ground. The 16-year old looked at his mentor with an apologetic smile. The professor couldn't help but chuckle. He should have helped the boy but he was embarrassed to say he got distracted. He walked back to his faithful friend and started helping him with the retrieval of their luggage. They were supposed to meet the princess tomorrow, unsure what exactly they were doing here. All they knew was that the town seemed to have gotten cursed somewhere in the past few months. The princess had heard about a puzzle solving professor of archeology who helped people with their problems. She also heard he was a gentleman who never refused the request of a lady. He seemed like the perfect man to help her with the current trouble. What the curse entailed was yet to be revealed.

After the professor put aside the last bag he turned around to look back at the spot where he last saw the mysterious woman he met before. The sun was starting to set and he noticed people returning to their homes. Suddenly, something on the ground caught his eye. He walked towards it to find a small, crumbled up handkerchief. The piece of cloth looked to be of good quality from what he could tell. Not something you would find on an everyday market. His gut told him to pick it up and examine it further.

''What's that professor?'' Luke asked curiously while peeking over his shoulder.

The boy had grown quite a bit, almost reaching the same height as the older gentleman.

''I'm not sure, but something tells me it's important.''

''Ah, is that your famous intuition acting up again, professor?''

The professor chuckled. Luke liked to say the phrase every once in a while, adding on to the expectation the professor always saw fit to see to the end. The handkerchief was a faint yellow with a lace rim. The fabric felt soft but looked like it had been used for years. The professor turned it around and spotted a set of initials in the corner.

''E.A.'' He said to himself.

Why did that seem familiar?

''Hm, well we do know someone with that set of initials, right?'' Luke deducted.

The professor looked at Luke with a confused expression. They knew someone with the initials E.A?

''Professor, don't tell me you've forgotten about your previous number 1 assistant.'' He joked.

''Ah!'' The professor exclaimed.

Of course! How could he have forgotten Emmy, his very capable assistant from four years ago. The last time they spoke was after the incident. He couldn't believe it had been four years since she had resigned from her position and said her goodbye's. It wasn't a very fond memory for the professor. He had started to care for the yellow-loving lass during their travels together and found it difficult to say goodbye. He thought back to their encounter just now. If it really was her, why wouldn't she have said something? Did she not want to see them again after all these years? Right then and there the professor made a decision.

''Luke, would you be so kind as to check us in at our hotel? I will be back before nightfall.''

Luke had become used to this kind of behaviour from his mentor and accepted without hesitation. He sighed when he looked at their pile of luggage, but was sure he could handle it. He had put more time into training his arms after all.

The professor smiled one last time at his apprentice and then bolted off over the marketplace to the spot where he saw her disappear before. He was going to try and find her. He wanted to know why she had behaved the way she did. And even if she didn't want to talk, he at least wanted some type of closure. He had told her she would always be welcomed back with open arms if she ever wanted to, but she never did. He turned the corner and looked around. The chance of him actually spotting her were slim, but he had to give it a try. Nemhat wasn't an extremely large place, but big enough for it to take hours to find someone.

He continued down the streets and looked out for a woman dressed in a licht brown robe. The veil covered almost her entire face, making it hard to distinguish her from others. Many women were wearing attires of a similar nature, varying in colors from black to brown to grey. The professor thought he had run out of luck when he had searched for almost an hour. He didn't want to give up but the sky was turning dark. Several houses had started dousing their lights as well, making it even harder to see ahead. The street he was currently in consisted of small, deteriorated cottages. It was clear the lesser fortunate inhabitants of Nemhat resided here. At the end of the street the professor spotted two figures close to the entrance of what seemed like a small store. One of the two figures was of a smaller stature, a boy of clear Egytian descent. His dark curls covered part of his face, but his striking light green eyes peaked through. The other person was actually turned with their back towards the professor, making it hard to tell what they looked like. In this light he couldn't quite see what colour their robe was, but it seemed similar to the one he saw before.

The boy nodded to the other figure and dashed to the street on their right side. The figure turned slightly, revealing part of their face. The professor could make out a small smile on their features. The person then took off their hood, making their lushes brown waves fall down on their shoulders. The professor gasped. It couldn't be anyone else. She turned back into the shop, disappearing from view. The professor quickly followed. The little shop had no door, but only a curved entrance. He stood in front of the shop and looked inside to see several small trinkets scattered about. The person of interest had moved to the back of the store, fumbling around with her robe. The professor walked further into the store, until the point where he was sure to be in ear shot.

''I believe you dropped this.'' He said softly, as not to startle her.

He could see her shoulder tense up. She didn't turn around but he could hear her mutter something under her breath.

''How did you find me?'' She finally said, in her normal voice.

''Not without effort I must say. It took me some time to realise it was you in the first place.'' He admitted. ''Luke helped me with that to be perfectly honest.''

''Luke…''

He could hear the pain in her voice. She slowly turned around. The sadness in her eyes was soon replaced with a happy smile. She closed in on the professor and hesitated. He wanted to hug her. He wanted her to hug him. He was so happy to see her. She looked just like he remembered, with only her hair slightly shorter than before. He realized she was hesitating and opened his arms.

''It's so good to see you Emmy.''

She finally gave in and wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him into a big hug.

''It's good to see you too professor.'' He could hear her muffled voice say in his shoulder.

After another second they parted and stared into each other's eyes.

''May I ask why you didn't say anything before, on the market?''

''I...I didn't know what to say.'' She responded and moved her arms back to her side.

Silence fell upon them. Emmy looked to be deep in thought. He wanted to ask her what she was doing here of all places, but he felt like that would be too intrusive at the moment. She was probably getting over the shock of their meeting in the first place. She lifted her hand to her chin and tapped it, pondering deeply before she exclaimed ''Professor!''

''Y..yes?'' She had startled him.

''Would you like to see something beautiful?'' She asked.

How could he decline?

*Niqab = veil in front of the face, only revealing the eyes.

First chapter of my new story! I don't know how long this one is going to be yet but I'll try to update it once every week. Please let me know what you thought! As every Fanfiction writer, I love me some comments~!