Hey, everyone! It's Yoshi. I'm back, and I got a new story for all of you! I have had this story planned for some time now, and just now have a good chunk of the rough draft finished. Plus there are a few firsts happening here, so I can only hope to be able to update once a week at most (which day exactly, I haven't decided).

I've wanted to do a story like this for some time now, and I think the time for it has finally arrived!

I hope you like what I have so far. So without further ado, enjoy! c:

-The Towering Silence-

-Prologue: Introductions-

Many people often wonder what Professor Hershel Layton did after his adventures in 'Future London' and before the Relic Stones had become a major interest, and anyone lucky enough to be a part of his life would tell you that he was involved in solving quite a few mysteries in between all that time! Take for instance the disappearance of Madame Watson's fortune, where a descendant of her adoptive father felt the inheritance was to be his and his alone. Or the mystery of the chelated corpse…I'd rather not discuss that one…

You may be wondering who I am, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Flora Reinhold; I was, at one time, the protégé and foster daughter to Professor Layton. I say 'at one time' as he went on to adopt me one year after taking me in!

That's not all, however; in between my adventures with the Professor, I gained a little brother named Alfendi, who has since grown up to become one of Scotland Yard's Finest! A few years later, I became a big sister again, this time to a baby sister named Katrielle, who now runs her own detective agency. And Luke, the Professor's former apprentice who moved to America, later moved back to England with his then newlywed wife, and started a family with her just a few months ago!

As for myself, I now run my own café and bakery, which is where my family will be meeting up for lunch today. It will be the first time in ages since we have had the whole family together! They should be here any minute now.

I had just finished getting lunch ready when the Professor (or rather Father, though even now referring to him as such feels somewhat foreign to me) was the first to arrive alongside the youngest Layton child, Katrielle, her assistant Ernest, and their dog, Shirley! I chatted with them for a few minutes, before Luke and his wife, Marina, arrived with their baby son Jonah in tow. About ten minutes later, Alfendi and his assistant Lucy had finally arrived. As we all sat down, Alfendi had made a surprise announcement.

"I invited the twins to join us later, unless anyone objects?"

"The Hopkins twins?" I asked, cheerfully.

"By 'eck, Prof! AC Hopkins?" Lucy exclaimed. "I had no idea you two were such good friends!"

"Yes…" Al muttered, glancing away briefly, his mind perhaps wandering off to a memory less than pleasant, before coming back to reality.

"Now remind me. Who are these twins again?" Luke inquired.

"They used to babysit Alfendi and I whenever Rosa was especially busy working." Katrielle explained. "Which was quite often, knowing Dad!"

The Professor gave a small chuckle in response. "Yes." He added. "But before that, they were involved with one of my first adventures after you had moved away, Luke."

"Ah, yes…Now that I think about it, you might have written to me about it before." Luke remarked, while Jonah babbled on.

"If this story involves one of the Assistant Commissioners, I definitely want to hear it!" Lucy said, insisting.

"Oh, now, Lucy. Don't get worked up because you haven't formally met." Al remarked. "Their whole family is introverted!"

"It sounds like you don't remember much, do you, Alfendi?" Katrielle asked him. "Because that's hardly true at all!"

"Need I remind you what happened to me four and a half years ago?" He asked in response. "Not every single memory I have is still completely intact."

My heart sunk a little when he said this. I know that incident brought a lot of discord into his life, but to the exact extent, I could only guess. The Professor seemed to concur, as he was quick to reassure him, promising to fill in the blanks as needed. Before anyone knew it, this led into our main story!

It all started twenty-three years ago to the date. I was still a teenager at the time, while Alfendi was still in primary school. Since the Professor now had full custody of him, we had spent a whole day visiting nearby schools for Alfendi to potentially attend. After we finally came home, having collected more than a few enrollment forms, I had gone to check the letter box, which was one of my duties being the Professor's part time protégé. As I skimmed each envelope, one in particular caught my attention; specifically, it was the return address, which was only two blocks from where we lived at the time.

I had my speculations circling my mind, as I brought the post to his study, where I could usually find him, but to my surprise, he wasn't there! I wondered where else he could have been, until I heard noises coming from the parlor. The room once used for the sole purposes of sitting and reading was now often littered with toys, games, and sometimes crayons and paper; so it wouldn't have surprised me if Alfendi decided to go and play after spending all day out and about. Curious as I was, I wandered down the hall to listen in.

"I got you, Dad!" Alfendi shouted, pointing a block at the Professor.

"Oh! Oh no! He got me!" Father proclaimed as he carefully descended to the floor. Evidently, they were playing 'cops & robbers', and Alfendi (the cop) had just 'tazed' Father (the robber).

I hid away from the threshold, not wanting to interrupt the fun they were having, though at the same time, I couldn't resist watching, so my head was visible when the Professor happened to look up whenever Alfendi tackled him.

"Ah, Flora! There you are!" He said, trying to recover from his skinny six year old son pouncing on him. "Did you go get the post?"

I nodded, holding up the handful of letters, before entering the room. I had expected him to ask me to take them to the study, but to my surprise, he had managed to get himself off the floor, and onto the loveseat, all the while with a squirmy Alfendi under his arm until they were both seated! This was a side to the Professor I was still getting used to, as he only appeared around the same time that Al first came to live with us. Part of the reason it took some getting used to was it was one of the few times he didn't wear his signature top hat! Perhaps it was because he didn't want to risk damaging it, or because he decided being an English gentleman was unnecessary behind closed doors. Either way, it was always a pleasant surprise to see that full head of scruffy brown hair!

"I think there's one in particular you should read first…" I added while I handed him the post.

He looked through each letter before coming across the same envelope. He held it up, perhaps unsure if he was reading what it said correctly. He whispered something to himself as he opened it, quietly reading it as Alfendi and I leaned in to also see what it said.

To Professor Layton,

We haven't met before, but my son, Gerard, is one of your students. As you may already know, Gerard is still recovering from a stroke; it hurts my wife and I to see him like this, especially after everything he's been through.

I believe the tipping point was just a few days ago, when one of his children - my grandson - disappeared almost without a trace. Anyone could have done it, since he tends to wander off; and he can't talk, much less shout for help.

Police are still searching for him, but I've heard your deductive reasoning skills rival that of even the greatest detectives. I'm turning to you, Professor, because everyone else I have turned to will only tell me so much. If you can help us, you'll be able to find me at Gerard's flat two blocks away from Gressenheller.

If not, I understand.

Sincerely, Jude Hopkins

P.S. If you do decide to help, the code is 3237.

The three of us could only look on, unsure of what to say. Sure, it may not have been the most unusual case, stranger things have happened. But there was something about this one that - for reasons I didn't yet know at that point - felt…different. Though even now, I'm not sure that's the most accurate word to use here. In retrospective, it was always rather difficult to describe what our next adventures would entail, as the next would start out as mysterious as the previous one.

"So…Are you going to help him?" Alfendi finally asked him.

"Of course I will." The Professor answered firmly, standing in order to get ready to go out again.

I don't recall when exactly now, but some time after this adventure, I had asked the Professor what made him so sure he wanted to help this family. His response was along the lines of how he couldn't imagine the possibility of losing a child; I then remarked mentioning the time I was left in a barn for at least a day in an unfamiliar village before he and Luke came back to fetch me. I didn't get a response…

While the flat we were going to wasn't that far away, the Professor insisted on driving over there. It soon made sense as to why: As it turned out, the Hopkins' residence was located within one of those 'gated' complexes. To be precise, it was one with an upgraded gate that required a 'key-code' in order to enter (which - at least for me - explained the post script in Jude's letter). I didn't initially believe them to be so common, but in a city as large as London, I can understand why they would be so important to so many people. Maybe even vital.

"So who is Gerard? Besides your student, I mean." Alfendi asked from the backseat.

"We met him at Open Day." Father answered. "You remember him, surely?"

"No." Al shook his head.

"He has red hair." The Professor added.

"That describes at least 12 people that were there that day!" Al remarked.

"He is from America."

"That knocks it down to four!" Al stated, holding up four fingers.

"He is rather tall and muscular."

"Oh! That's him!"

"And somehow, he had a stroke?" I asked, partially skeptical.

"It could happen to anyone, I'm afraid…" the Professor stated. "Especially if stress is the cause. But from my understanding, he'll be fully recovered in time for the next semester."

"That's good to hear." Said I.

Things went quiet after that, since we reached the complex. As I was gazing out the car window, wondering which flat was theirs, the Professor suddenly hit the brakes, startling myself and Alfendi. We briefly glanced at each other, making sure everyone was alright, while the Professor stared out the windshield for a moment or two, before getting out of the car. Alfendi unbuckled his seatbelt in order to better see what was happening.

"Did he hit something?" He asked me, curiously.

"I don't think so." I answered. "Look."

I gestured to the windshield, where about five feet in front of us, the Professor was speaking with a young (I presumed) girl. I couldn't hear anything she said, if she had spoken at all. I heard everything that he had said clearly, however. First, getting out of the car, asking the girl if she was alright. Next, telling her how dangerous it was to run in front of a moving car, even if it was to retrieve her ball. Lastly, he suggested to her to head home soon, as it was supposed to rain later. She only nodded at that, otherwise stiff as if ready to either fight for her life, or run very far away. She soon made her way back to the nearby playground, while the Professor returned to the car.

"Have a nice day!" He called out to her before shutting the car door.

"Is she okay?" I asked him, while he fastened his seatbelt once more.

"Yes." He answered. "Evidently, her ball was trying to get away from her."

"So she does talk." Alfendi remarked, trying to strap himself back in.

"We couldn't hear her." I clarified. "Who was she, anyway? She seems familiar somehow."

"We might have met at Open Day last month." Father explained. "Many students had their children accompany them that day, of which she could have been one."

As he said this, he found a place to park, and we soon entered the building, bounding up two flights of stairs. The hallway we walked down was clearly that from an older place made to look new, as even with bright fluorescent ceiling lights, and a coat of light beige paint on the walls, it still felt as though the three of us had entered another era. We had stopped in front of one of the twelve dark brown doors that were on the second story.

The Professor knocked exactly four short consecutive times, and then waited for whomever was inside to answer. Things became quiet after that…For about eight seconds.

*ding dong*

The doorbell went off inside, as Alfendi had pressed it.

*ding dong*

He pushed it again. He had reached to do it a third time, but Father had placed his hand between the doorbell and Al's little trigger happy finger. He tried to go around Father's hand, with no success.

"Now, Alfendi. A gentleman must always be patient." Said the Professor, softly reprimanding with a gentle smile as he always did when he or Luke out of line of being real gentlemen.

Discouraged, perhaps believing he was being compared to Luke, Alfendi pouted as he crossed his arms. However, it wasn't long after this we all heard the door unlock, and Alfendi was smiling, proud of himself that he was of great help to his father. The door then opened, revealing an older looking man. He was evidently in his sixties, though he seemed older than that. His skin was rather tan and speckled, and his hair was a greying, once golden, brown, styled in a 'buzzcut'. His brown eyes reminded me of earl grey tea, and his mustache was the same color and texture as his hair. He wore a basic shirt that seemed snug of him, jeans that needed to be held up with a belt, and ankle high boots.

"Uh, hello?" He greeted us, his voice carrying an accent I had never heard before.

"Pardon the intrusion, sir." The Professor greeted in response, tipping his top hat slightly. "Are you perhaps the one who sent me a letter requesting my assistance?" He asked, which the other man reacted, surprised yet also relieved.

"You're Professor Layton?" He asked rhetorically, though the Professor confirmed anyway. "Yes, that was me. Jude Hopkins. It's an honor to finally meet you in person. Please, please come in. I'll explain everything."

And so we did. Certainly, he's been through far more curious scenarios; but at that time, I don't think even the Professor knew where things would go from here.

And there's the prologue!

I know it doesn't seem like there's a lot here, but remember that this is only the first chapter.

As you can see, I decided to go with First Person POV, because, well…I wanted to because I thought it would make for an interesting play on perspective, and also to experiment with.

Also, guess who is using Word now?

Chapter One is coming up next, so until then, honest reviews please! c: