LMJ Rewrite

Here's part two! Hope you all enjoy! :D

-Chapter Two: Professor Layton and the Relics Stones, Part Two-

Before anyone knew it, ten years came and went. For our father, they felt simultaneously fast and slow.

I know this because he told me two days after your birthday that year. I won't forget that day for as long as I live.

It was a fair weathered day, surprising given how frigid it had been up to that point. I had closed up the bakery long enough to get myself some lunch, and stopped by Gressenheller to see if the Professor wanted to join me. While we ate, we talked about our jobs, and about my siblings, and how things at school were going for them. The usual things a parent and their adult child discuss over lunch, essentially. Mysteries had been fewer and further between at that point, so it was nice for both of us to have a break and just exist.

It was during this, that we heard a knock on the office door.

Odd, since any student of his, or a fellow professor, or really anyone else for that matter, would have just come in.

"Stay put." He instructed as he stood to answer the door, cautious all the while.

To our surprise, there stood a young woman, who I initially concluded to be about my age. She had long violet hair, deep blue eyes, and a lightly tanned complexion that said she had been exposed to more sun than one could ever think to receive in the British Isles.

How do I know this? Simple! It's because we were at her wedding just six months prior. In fact, Kat was the flower girl, while Professor was best man.

"Marina, please come in." said Father, as he ushered her into the little office. "Flora, would you get our guest some tea?"

I nodded, going straight for the electric kettle.

"I know we're still basically strangers, but I can only come to you." Marina said, the distraught in her demeanour now all the more apparent. "If I involve the police, my husband-"

Delicately, he placed a hand on hers. "Do try to calm yourself, dear. It will be easier for me to help you if I understand exactly what the problem is."

"Right. Sorry." She replied, after exhaling.

"No need to apologise." He added, as I brought the cup over to her.

Things were quiet for a few minutes after that, while our guest drank her tea, breathing deeply when she came up for air.

"As I tried to say before." The woman said at last. "It's about Luke. He was taken away by some person neither of us recognised. It was shortly after we moved here from Seattle."

"Oh, yes. I remember Luke saying you were going to move here to London." said I. "So you could both be closer to us."

"You remember correctly. Anyway, it's been about two weeks since we moved in." She continued. "We had just finished unpacking a few days ago when he went to answer the door. I couldn't really see what the guy looked like from where I was sitting in the living room. I only knew it was a guy from his voice. He wanted to ask Luke about something -I'm not sure what exactly; he was a little quiet."

She paused to catch her breath.

"Whatever it was, my husband was in denial. But that led to him getting taken away somewhere." The woman added, distressed, rummaging through her purse, her hand emerging with a note firmly in its grasp. "And then the next day, I found this in front of the door in the entryway."

Professor opened the note as it was handed to him. I distinctly remember, it said the following:

Your husband knows too much, Mrs. Triton. So we took him in.

Involve the police, or the media, and we'll send him back to you, one piece at a time!

It goes without saying, but we were both taken aback. What exactly did Luke get involved in, that led to this?

There was only one way to know for sure.

"If you will give me just a few minutes, long enough to talk my son into picking up my daughter from school, we will go straight to the last place Luke was last seen." The Professor said, with sincerity.

"Thank you." Marina replied, trying but faltering to keep a brave face.

It was quite a revelation that the newlyweds lived just walking distance from Gressenheller, in a neighbourhood popular with students, professionals, and young couples alike.

Their home was a rather charming and quaint little green terraced house. The downstairs comprised of the sitting room, dining room, and kitchen, with the stairs to the first floor right there at the entryway. Upstairs had the bedroom, bath, a store room, and the only room of real relevance here, the study.

I had observed that Luke's study was set up quite similar to the Professor's, as Marina let us in to the room. From the sofa and tea table sitting across from us, to the desk adjacent to the window, to the bookshelves crammed with books and other things. Had it not been for the open attic access, along with more blue than orange and more green than yellow in the room, I would have sworn I had stepped through a mirror!

Of course, that was all second to be noticed. The first were the photographs proudly displayed above the sofa, most of which were of places and people I was unfamiliar with, but knew the context of each and every one of them the moment the Professor stood gazing at a few.

"These are from all of the adventures you and Luke went on together, aren't they?" I asked, having caught a glimpse of a photo of a certain train.

"They are." He nodded, confirming.

"Whenever he had the opportunity, Luke would always go on and on about the time you guys spent together." Marina stated, in a tone that said she rather enjoyed his apparent expositions. "I could tell it was all very precious to him."

"I see." Professor replied in the midst of investigating. But I knew he was listening intently to her words. At least until his attention was pulled in another direction. "Was the attic open on the day of his disappearance?"

Marina shook her head. "No, I opened it. I was trying to look for clues myself. But aside from the boxes we put up there, there's really nothing to go on."

"Perhaps you can tell us what Luke's demeanour was like prior to his disappearance." I inquired further.

"Oh, yeah." Marina replied, as if recollecting. "After we finished unpacking everything in this room, Luke basically kept me from coming back in for any reason. The door would be locked every time I tried to at least bring him some tea. If I knocked, he would tell me to just leave it at the door; in fact, he had a sign on the door: 'No! Admittance!' it read. He's done that a few times before, too, so I never thought of it as a big deal."

She paused, trying to think of what happened next. She then continued.

"One day, I had gotten lunch for us, and was about to leave his by the door, when I noticed the door was open ajar. I think Luke was in the shower then. Curiosity had got the better of me, and I went inside to see what he was so intensely focused on. There was a notebook out on the desk."

"Did you see what it said?" I asked.

"Yeah, but...I wasn't sure what the notes he had written were about, some kind of stone or crystal; as soon as I heard the water shut off, I knew I had to get out of there." She explained.

"And this notebook, did Luke have it with him that day?" The Professor asked.

"I don't think so." Marina answered. "It's not like it was pocket size, or anything. It was like this big." She added, holding her hands out about eight inches from each other to indicate the notebook's actual length. "We weren't planning on going out that day, so he didn't have his backpack with him, either."

"Then it must still be here!" I thought aloud, while Father obviously concluded the same, as he searched the desk, while Marina and I searched the shelves.

"Ah!" Professor exclaimed from the underside of the desk, which caught our attention. "Do either of you have a pencil?"

"Here's one!" Marina grabbed a pencil from the cup of them in front of her, and handed it to him.

We then watched in amazement as the middle section of the desk top rose, revealing a secret compartment. And inside was an unfinished letter, and the notebook!

"This letter's addressed to you!" Marina stated to the Professor after giving the page a once over, as he came back out from under the desk and stood to join us in examining our findings. "I guess he was going to ask for your insight or something."

Professor Layton accepted the letter as it was handed to him, and read over it. I couldn't forget what it said, even if I wanted to...

Dear Professor,

I know you may reprimand me for this, but I've spent the past decade off and on searching for the elusive Kyle Azan. I thought I might have finally reached at least a clue to his current whereabouts here in London. The reason I chose not to consult you sooner, was because I learnt that the Relics Stones, which Kyle and Kamilla had been investigating prior to her boarding that fateful journey to England, are Azran in origin.

We both have bad memories involving them. I didn't want to dig those up for you, since you lost so much because of them.

But now

"He must have been writing this the day he was kidnapped." said I, while Marina looked on at the writing, vividly fearing for her husband's safety.

"Why didn't he tell me...?" Was all she could say in response.

"Most likely for your safety." The Professor answered her, in a tone that made it clear he was speaking from experience.

"Do you have any idea where he could be?" She asked us.

Father closed his eyes, and pondered a moment before answering.

"I can only think of one place."