Chapter 19 – Time Travelling

After Alfendi's late discovery of the time-domain reflectometer, Dimitri and Markus made steady progress in the repair of the cable, and for a while, everything seemed like it was going to plan.

Andrea was delighted.

"Finally! The older Layton has stopped messing around and the cable is finally fixed!" she beamed at her companion.

The woman smiled back. "Everything is set. We just need to wait for them to test it out on Allen, and when he goes back we'll make our move. But remember; Bronev is up to something. I think he may be onto us, along with his younger self. Keep an eye on him, and that little girl of his. She's a sneaky one."

"Right." Andrea sat back and watched the monitor as Layton and his comrades prepared to test the machine,

Meanwhile, however, the said sneaky little girl was staring in at them from the windowsill behind them, smiling. "Uncle Leon was right," she thought. Little Emmy had seen it with her own eyes; Andrea's companion looked exactly like her and they had surveillance watching the machine. She quickly jumped down off of the windowsill and ran off back towards Bronev's place.

"I got you now."

"Right, are you ready?" the professor asked.

Dimitri nodded confidently. "Ready as ever."

"Right. I think we had all better step outside, and re-enter in about ten minutes. We don't want to get caught up in this curvature and dragged back to three days ago, otherwise the plan won't work. Come; let's leave him to it." Markus then turned to Dimitri and held out his hand. "Good luck, old man."

Dimitri smiled and shook his hand. "Thank you."

The professor took Emmy's hand and led her out of the attic. Layton did the same with Emmeline. Flora and Luke quickly followed them, followed by Alfendi. Soon, Dimitri was left alone in the room.

"Right," he breathed. He turned to the control panel and typed in his destination time. The then pushed 'START' and stood back.

To his delight, the arms started spinning, round and round, faster and faster, creating a curvature in the centre of the room. Slowly, the curvature began to open p in the middle. Dimitri took a deep breath and walked forward. The fore of the wind knocked his large white hat clean off of his head and his grey hair was blown back in an uncontrollable wind. The opening in the curvature got larger and larger and began to swallow up the machine and Dimitri too. The speed of the spinning arms increased even further until Dimitri was completely engorged by the curvature.

Eventually, the spinning began to cease and, after a while, the curvature was gone.

And Dimitri was gone with it.

"It worked!" Andrea cried joyously, hugging her female companion. "It actually worked! Nothing can stop me now!"

The man smiled widely. "Indeed it did, my dear. It worked. And tomorrow, Layton will have to choose; a life with you or the death of fading away from existence."

"Do you think he's... gone yet?" Alfendi asked.

"I think so," the professor whispered, listening out for any noise coming from the attic. There was nothing to be heard but a few cars passing by outside on the streets of London. "Let's go and check."

Everyone got up and headed for the loft door and the professor opened it. One by one, they climbed up and, with the professor leading the way, entered the room. The machine was still there, its buttons flashing, but Dimitri was nowhere to be seen.

"It must have worked," Markus whispered.

"I think you're right," the professor replied. "You did it, you and Dimitri. You fixed it."

Layton sighed heavily. He looked at his wife, who held a similar expression to the one he did. Emmeline nodded at him, and as soon as she had done this, there was a knock on Celeste's front door.

"I'll get that," Celeste said automatically, climbing back down the ladder. She opened the door to see the two Bronev's and Little Emmy. "Ah, Bronev, perfect timing, they've just repaired the time machine and Dimitri has been sent back, as planned."

"Good. We also have news; news on Andrea," Bronev replied. "Why don't we come in and have a chat?"

"Alright. I'll call the others down." Celeste went back down the hall and called down to the others.

Bronev looked at Leon and nodded. They both went into the kitchen, with Little Emmy at their heels, and sat at the table. Leon turned to Little Emmy.

"Are you positive of what you saw, girl?" he asked.

Little Emmy nodded confidently. As the others entered the room, she spoke up. "I looked into the vindow, and the crazy lady had a T.V. vis zem on it." She pointed at the others.

The professor frowned. "You mean to say that Andrea has us under surveillance?"

Little Emmy nodded. "Dat's not all."

"Emmeline also spotted her little assistant. Apparently, she has an assistant who looks exactly like her."

"What... the other woman who was with her when she came to confront Markus? And when Little Emmy kicked the crap out of those guys?" Alfendi asked.

"Yes. Now, either she has a twin, which I think is less likely, or—"

"She has an older self," the professor concluded. "That's how she knows what to do. That's how she knows how to work the time machine, the surveillance explains how she knows not to come and interfere with the machine just yet, but we still don't know how she brought our younger selves here or why..."

"Well, that's something else we have to figure out along the way, isn't it?" Emmy smiled.

"And this is where we leave you, I'm afraid," Layton smiled.

Everyone looked up in shock and Alfendi stared at his father, an expression which was a mixture of shock, disappointment and outrage plastered on his face.

"But Dad! We can't go yet! They need our help! And I want to see how all of this turns out!"

Emmeline laughed and placed an arm around her son's shoulders. "Your father and I will tell you how this ends, don't you worry. And the professor here has enough information to get the answers he needs."

The professor frowned. "I do?"

"You do," Emmeline said firmly. "You're smart enough to figure all of this out; I saw you do it once before, so I know you will this time. There is quite a bit more to come," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "so good luck," she smiled.

Layton and Alfendi both said their goodbyes and left the room as Emmy beckoned her younger selves over to her.

"You'll both be fine; I know it. Trust me," she smiled. She held out her arms, and the three Emmy's entered into a group hug. They broke apart and Emmeline also left the room.

Emmy stared after her older self, her mind full of questions. "How did my younger self get here? What is it like to travel through time?" But more importantly... "How on earth am I going to get through all of this? Having a baby, being a mother along with coping with nightmares and traumatic memories and every other bad thing in my life?" She remembered her older self's advice and sighed, wondering if she could live it all through. She wished her older self could stay through it all and support her. After all, who better to coach you through life than an older version of you? Emmy would miss her older counterpart and all her advice, but she knew for certain that there was a light at the end of the deep, dark tunnel she had been slowly making her way through for the last couple of years.

But she also knew that there was a lot ahead in this situation.

But she could never have been prepared for what.