Chapter 28 – Confusing Solutions
As the curvature began to cease, Emmy and Hershel both held their breaths, their hearts hammering. They stood completely still in the middle of the curvature, hand in hand, for Emmy had grabbed Hershel's hand in an attempt to comfort herself after being so anxious and afraid. Eventually, the spinning began to cease and the curvature was gone. They had arrived in another time period. Little Emmy and Hershel sighed in relief. They smiled at one another, glad to be safe, whenever they were, but they were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Emmeline Bronev and Hershel Layton. I have been expecting you two."
The two spun around to face them. Emmeline, Layton and Alfendi stood right behind them. Emmeline and Layton shared a smile, while Alfendi looked extremely confused.
"What? Why are you two here? That wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Mum? Dad?" he looked at his parents worriedly, but one glance at their happy faces told him all that he needed to know.
Little Emmy and Hershel shared a confused look.
"Let's go down into the kitchen to Celeste and try to get everyone caught up on this situation, shall we?" Emmeline smiled, taking Little Emmy's arm and leading the way to the ladder.
Hershel looked over at Layton, who smiled and gestured to the ladder. He then looked over at Alfendi, who merely shrugged with a confused expression similar to his own. Hershel sighed and followed the two Emmy's down the ladder and into the kitchen, curious to hear what Emmeline had to say. Layton smiled at his son and followed with Alfendi at his heels.
"So, what did you neglect to tell us this time?" Hershel asked as he took a seat.
"Probably about vy everyvun disappeared," Little Emmy replied.
"What? What do you mean 'everyone disappeared'?!" Alfendi asked, looking terrified.
"Don't panic, Al, that's supposed to happen," Emmeline smiled at him. She turned to Layton, who had just entered the room. "So, is Celeste here?"
"I'm afraid not," he replied. "I think she may be at the surgery."
"Well then we shall just have to continue on without her," Emmeline said, and turned to her younger self. "So, basically, Andrea was being a bitch and unintentionally wiped out everyone in existence?"
Little Emmy nodded. "Me, Hershel and Uncle Leon are the only vuns left now. Everyvun else in the whole of London is gone."
"And the rest of the world, by the looks of things," Hershel added. "we tried turning on the TV last night, but there were error notices coming up, except for the live news broadcasts, where there was just a camera pointing at an empty desk. It's madness!"
"Vy did ve not disappear?" Little Emmy asked.
"A good question, my dear—" Layton began, but was interrupted by the front door opening an then slamming shut.
"That must be Celeste..." Emmeline trailed off, and was confirmed by the said lady entering the kitchen. Little Emmy and Hershel stared.
The last fifteen years hadn't been too kind to Celeste by the looks of things, as she had aged terribly since Little Emmy and Hershel had last seen her. Several bags were under her eyes and her hair was completely grey. Several more lines were etched on her face and she looked considerably more frail now, with her walking stick, which trembled slightly and trembling even more the longer she stood in the same spot. Alfendi quickly stood up to offer her his seat.
"Thank you, dear," she smiled, sitting down gingerly in his seat, her hand automatically going to her back as she winced. She turned to Emmeline. "I see that everything is going to plan."
"I'm sure it is, although I can't be entirely sure, as no one has told me anything," Alfendi snapped, looking irritated. "When are you going to explain everything to me?"
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!" Emmeline scolded. "The only people here who have a right to take that tone are Emmy and Hershel here, but funnily enough I haven't heard either of them utter a word in that kind of tone."
"Yeah, but they think I have a point," Alfendi pointed out. He turned to Little Emmy. "Right? Don't you want an answer for your question?"
"Yes... vat is tone?" Little Emmy asked.
"There we go," Alfendi smiled, looking smarmily at his mother.
Emmeline pulled a rotten face and gestured for Layton to continue.
"Er... anyway, as I was saying, Emmy, the reason as to why you and Hershel did not disappear is a bit of a confusing one. Actually there are two reasons, in a way, but I'll try to explain the science behind it first."
"Okay," Little Emmy nodded.
"Right. You see, it all has to do with the fact that you, Hershel and Leon are not from this time. You see, the Emmy and Layton from fifteen years ago would not be who they were then if it were not for Bronev, and when Leon's memory was wiped then it changed everything. That never happened to your uncle's older self, so he disappeared, therefore erasing him from existence as of that moment. And then the whole process started. Is there is no Leon Bronev to change Emmy's life in the way that he did, then Emmy would not be the person that she is, so therefore she would disappear, and everyone that they knew would disappear, as would everyone that those people knew, and everyone that those people knew, until everyone disappeared. But the case with you two is quite different. You see, you two and Leon are from the past, so for you personally, your destinies have not been written yet, so to speak. Nothing about your pasts has changed, so you two aren't unstable in time and you will not disappear."
"I see..." Hershel nodded. "But how are you here? And everyone else?"
"That is because of something that you will have to do when you get to the past," Emmeline replied. "You have to go back and change what happened. Warn Big Emmy, the professor and everyone else of what Andrea is capable of. Tell them that Andrea will erase Leon's memories and to go along with her plan, for the moment at least. Tell them to give her access to the time machine."
"And zat vill change everysing back to normal?" Little Emmy asked.
"But... if Leon's memories were all erased, then everyone from the moment that he left the past to go to the future would disappear, wouldn't they?" Hershel frowned. "Because of the fact that Leon never came back?"
"Well, in theory, yes... but in this case things are... different," Layton said.
"What do you mean by that, Dad?" Alfendi asked, frowning.
"Well, we don't understand it either, Al... but people only disappear from the moment there Leon's memories were erased, and not when he actually came to the future, which is very odd, because everything would get screwed up from that moment in time," Emmeline said. "It is strange, but that's the way it is."
"I think we ought to attribute that phenomenon to the complexity of the situation," Layton said. "The fact that Leon was in the complete wrong time."
"Yeah..." Emmeline still looked confused.
"I suppose we ought to be thankful for a phenomenon. I mean, if not for that then we wouldn't have a solution to our problem here," Celeste pointed out.
"Yeah... I suppose you're right," Emmeline smiled.
"Anyway, we know what you have to do; go back to a few minutes before Leon's memory was wiped and stop Andrea from erasing his memory by giving her access to the machine," Layton confirmed.
"Right..." Hershel nodded. "We can do this."
"Well, I'll make you some breakfast and then you two can brace yourselves for your mission," Celeste said, making to stand up, but Emmeline stopped her.
"I'll do it."
After a while of eating and mulling things over, all were prepared to go back in time. Little Emmy and Hershel were in position, ready to go, while Layton finished explaining how to change the destination time of the machine.
"... and over fifty percent of the power is rerouted to the arms, you type in your destination time and push 'ENTER', and then all you have to do is wait," Layton finished, pushing a few buttons. "I have put in your destination time for you, so you should end up straight there, right before Leon's memory is wiped. The rest is up to you. Are you ready?"
Little Emmy and Hershel shared a nervous glance and nodded.
"Very well. I will leave the room and when the coast is clear, you push enter." Layton backed out of the attic and started down the ladder. "Good luck." He closed the loft door.
Hershel looked at Little Emmy again. "Are you ready?" he asked.
She nodded. "Go."
Hershel pushed enter. As soon as he did this, the arms began to spin. 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 up in the middle. Emmy and Hershel looked at one another for a moment and, taking deep breaths, walked forward. The opening in the curvature got larger and larger and began to swallow up the machine and the two as well. The speed of the spinning arms increased even further until the two young time travellers were completely engorged by the curvature.
Eventually, the spinning began to cease and, after a while, the curvature was gone.
And Little Emmy and Hershel were gone with it.