"No, it isn't that..." The man took a deep intake of breath. "Remember I told you I had a brother?"
The butler stared back in disbelief, he knew what was coming. He never understood why his master wanted rid of Layton so much - now he understood the matter even less. Every time he had spoken of his brother - Theodore was his name - Desmond had spoken so fondly of him. He knew that his master wasn't quite sane, but this seemed too absurd even for him.
Desmond could tell that Raymond had worked out what he was about to say. "Yes, it is as it sounds." he exhaled slowly. "Layton is..." his words trailed off, but the man continued to stare blankly.
"But master! You - I mean, Descole - tried to kill him!" The butler retorted, not meaning to reveal his shock so directly - he had done this once before to Descole, and that had resulted in him receiving a terrifyingly-worded threat about cutting his tongue out. While as Desmond this was unlikely, considering how unstable the man had been lately, anything could be possible. Raymond bowed his head, hiding the slight fear that was showing in his eyes. "Sorry master. Please, ignore me." he apologised, quickly.
Everything seemed to pause for a moment. The professor noticed the return of the pattering on the windows, the drizzle of rain that made the entire ship cold.
Then Sycamore shook his head, "No, you're right." he answered calmly. He was able to ignore the urge to lash out with his words. "It is just, sometimes I feel as if my reasoning goes out of the window when I get angry. I never intended to hurt anyone... That would just make me like one of them."
Raymond stood with his hands behind his back. He had heard this little speech many times before, but he listened as if it were the first. The words seemed to be filled with a new meaning.
"All I see is revenge when I'm... like that. " Desmond glanced up for a moment, his eyes wide and filled with sadness. "Layton... he never deserved any of this. He has grown into a good man."
Remaining silent, Raymond watched as his master walked over to crouch next to where the mirror had shattered. "Master, I can clear that for you."
The professor gently pulled out his glasses from under the pile of glass shards. The glass and the rims were scratched and part of the glass on the right cracked all of the way across. "It is a good thing that I don't really need these." he said with an unconvincing laugh which was soon followed by a sigh. It was nearing half past five and he was exhausted. "Perhaps I should try to return to sleep, I feel knackered."
The butler nodded and began to make his way to the door. At least now Desmond was too tired to get all worked up again.
"Wait!" The professor's voice was in a much more urgent tone - but not in an upset way.
Raymond turned around.
"No. It doesn't matter. " He murmured, trying to hold in a yawn. "Thank you." He gave Raymond a smile, he was so grateful for having the man - he doubted he would still be alive without him.
The butler bowed and left the room.
Desmond was about to ask for advice about what he should do in the morning - when he was most likely going to be confronted by Layton - but he decided against it. He would come up with something himself when the time came, right now he just wanted to sleep and forget about it all - even if it was just for an hour or two.
Calming music filled the end room of the Bostonius. Emmy had promised to stay with Luke until he felt like he could get back to sleep on his own, and while the boy had his eyes shut, she knew that if she were to leave now he would notice and call her back.
She leaned back in the chair, reflecting somewhat tentatively on her mission. Tomorrow they would surely find the last of the aura stones, and the most important part her mission would begin. She knew she was not ready for what was to come, but also knew that it was too late to back out.
At the same time, she thought, there had to be a way to use the situation with Sycamore to her advantage. She knew that Descole also needed the five aura stones - just like Targent did - and if he were found out, he would almost certainly flee with them all. Uncle Leon would never forgive her if she let that happen after all of their hard work.
Emmy stood up and walked over to stop the music before crouching next to Luke's bed as she had been earlier. "Luke?" She whispered, already feeling guilty just from talking to him and knowing what was to come.
Half-opening his eyes, Luke grunted out a sleepy sound. "Huh?"
"Luke, we can't tell the professor about Descole." Emmy said quietly. "If we do there's a chance that he will escape with the eggs." She had got it all planned out in her head now: they would get the last egg and on the way back to the Bostonius she would run ahead, giving her the time to replace one with a fake while nobody else was there. Then they would tell Layton about 'Sycamore'. That way even if Descole managed to flee, he wouldn't have all of them and could complete nothing.
Luke hummed a response, pulling his duvet up around his lower face.
"Luke?" Emmy repeated, sternly raising her voice. She had to know that the boy understood what to do.
His eyes opened quickly, startled by the sudden change in tone. "I won't say a thing. We can't let him win!"
Emmy smiled and nodded. "That's what I want to hear!"
In any other situation she might have laughed or teased the boy about his reaction, but right now, she felt as if it would be wrong to act like the older sister that she had done before. Everything felt so much more real now. As Emmy went to leave the room, Aurora walked in. Luke's eyes widened as he noticed her and he scrambled to sit up. "N-Night Emmy." He said quickly, but the girl had (unusually) already left the room.
"Luke..." Aurora began, standing next to his bed. "I-I am a little scared. I am not sure what to think anymore."
"It will all be fine. Emmy has a plan." He said, trying to put on a brave face. In reality, the boy was also feeling anxious. Luke quietened his voice. "We can't mention anything to Professor Layton just yet, but that is only so Descole doesn't escape with all of the eggs!"
Aurora nodded but then looked down slowly. "I... I feel that I am unable to believe that Professor Sycamore could be a bad person."
"Did you not see how he acted when I found the mask?" Luke said, gritting his teeth with determination. "He is hiding something!"
The boy's face dropped, noticing the pity of Aurora's face. He desperately wanted to think of something to help her feel better.
"I think that we have already met the real Sycamore. But Descole must have switched places with him during our travels and hidden him somewhere." He said, thinking back to the other times that the man had been around them without them realising it. "He did that to Doland, our family's butler - and Angela."
Aurora gasped. She had really grown attatched to Professor Sycamore and this gave her a little bit of hope.
