Chapter 35 – Going Home

This was it for them. Their part of the professor and co.'s journey was over. After an incredibly long ferry ride full of tension, wonder and emotions running high, they were finally turning the final corner. Little Emmy and Leon were almost safely home.

But, after all that she had heard from Andrea, Little Emmy wasn't so sure that she was happy about that.

As they prepared to leave, all getting into the cars in which they boarded the ship on, Little Emmy debated on whether to ask her uncle or her older self whether Andrea's words held any truth. She wondered just how much Andrea could possibly know about her father, or about her past. Andrea was a psycho, and could have gone to the trouble of stalking Emmy's older self. She could have dug up her past and used it to get to her. But, why would she accuse her Uncle Leon of murdering her mother and Daniel? None of it made sense to Little Emmy. What was she to think? That Andrea was lying to get to her, or that she was tormenting her with the truth? Andrea knew everything that was going to happen to her in the future, after all. She had that advantage over Little Emmy. She knew the truth, whereas Emmy didn't. And in the circumstances, what with Andrea being a crazy psychopath and the villain in the situation, that just wasn't fair. Little Emmy sighed heavily as their hired taxi drove off the ferry. She leaned her head against her uncle's shoulder. She closed her eyes as she felt the tears start. All she had been through in the past with her father, and now she knew that there was a possibility that it could all get dragged up again in the future. That and the whole Claire thing... Little Emmy suppressed a sigh. In that moment, she really wasn't looking forward to her future.

Present-day Emmy, however, was smiling. She was sat in the back of the professor's car next to Claire, chatting. After all the torturing herself and going over and over in her mind about whether the professor still loved her or not, the last thing she expected to be doing to pass the time on the way to her old home in Ireland was chatting to the professor's ex-girlfriend about everything under the sun. They talked about everything, heavily exhausting all topics that came into their heads, and putting the world to rights. One strange, random conversation would lead into another even stranger one, and so one. One person in particular had a nasty habit of cropping up in the vast majority of their ramblings – Andrea.

"So, you know Andrea from college, yeah?"

"Well, she was in my class in secondary school, actually," Claire explained.

Luke frowned at this. "What? She's the same age as you?" he scoffed. "She doesn't look it."

"Luke." The professor shook his head at the boy. "A true gentleman never speaks ill of a lady."

"What do you mean, she doesn't look it?" Claire wondered. "She looks older?"

Luke nodded. "Way older."

"So, she didn't age very well, I take it?" Claire rubbed her hands together. "Excellent."

Luke and Emmy laughed at this, and Celeste smiled. The professor shook his head.

"Now, Claire, how do you expect to enforce the ladies and gentleman's code when you are speaking of poor Andrea in that kind of tone behind her back? Doesn't that go against your own standards of behaviour?"

"Every rule has its exception, Hershel," Emmy reminded him.

"And Andrea is the exception of that particular rule of mine," Claire said darkly.

"Oh, you hate her too?" Luke asked with a grin. "Emmy hates her as well."

Claire smiled at him. "Really?" she grinned at Emmy.

"What? What do you expect? She conspired against me and Hershel, using my father to get to me and try and split us up, and now she's messing with time travel, trying to make us separate or make me disappear, and god knows what she's going to do next..."

"Well, she wasn't that bad when we were at school, I can assure you," Claire said. "She was a bitch, yes, and she bullied me and a few others over the stupidest stuff, but her behaviour here is simply psychotic..."

"What did she do at school?" Emmy asked.

"Nothing serious. Mostly just jeering, taunting, throwing pathetic insults, putting nasty notes in my locker and 'bumping' into me in the corridors, you know, stupid stuff," Claire explained. "Mum tried to put a stop to it, but that just made things worse—"

"Well, at least I did something, your form teacher was worse than useless," Celeste cut in. "All she ever said to you was 'just ignore her and she'll go away'..."

"They always say that!" Emmy fumed. "'Oh just ignore them...' if you tell someone to just ignore it if they're being bullied, then that's like telling them to ignore all of life's problems. Is that really the message that we need to get across to the kids?"

"No, but most of the time the bully is merely looking for a reaction from you," the professor pointed out. "Sometimes it is best to just walk away."

"Yeah, but... well... look at this example, Hershel. There's a lion and a zebra in the jungle. The zebra sees the lion and thinks 'right, this guy is going to start something, I'd better take action and run like hell' and he does, and he's safe and sound."

"Yes, but—"

"Ah, let me finish! Anyway, one day, the zebra struts along, mind his own business, when that lion comes back again, and the zebra decides to listen to what his stupid form teacher told him in zebra school and ignores the fact that the lion is even there and is going to start something, and walks on. Right in front of the lion. What do you think is going to happen next?"

"I think I see..." the professor trailed off.

"The lion is going to muscle in and eat the poor zebra! That's what happens in this world. The world is a jungle, and the question is, which are you? The lion or the zebra? And if you're the zebra, what are you going to do? Take appropriate action and run away, or ignore the problem and get eaten, ripped apart, limb from limb..."

"Um, Emmy? I think that's a bad example." Luke smiled.

"Hmm?"

"Well, you say that the zebra is 'taking action' by running away from the lion. But isn't he technically running away from his problem? I mean, facing the problem would be standing up to the lion and telling him exactly what he thinks."

"Yeah, but zebras don't speak the same way that lions do, Luke," Emmy pointed out, "Because the zebra is part of the horse family, and the lion is part of the cat family. I thought you would know that, Luke, what with you being an animal lover..."

"How did we get into this conversation again?" Celeste asked, frowning.

Claire shrugged, grinning.

"Hey, Luke and I have all sorts of crazy conversations all the time," Emmy smiled. "Always exhausting the craziest of subjects."

"Like what?" Claire asked, smiling.

"Well... anything that comes to mind offhand, really," Luke explained.

"Hey Luke," Emmy smiled. "I wonder which came first; the chicken or the egg?"

The professor shook his head. "Not this again..."

"This is it," Little Emmy thought. "I'm nearly home." After several hours of sitting silently in the cramped back seat of the car, thinking deeply about her future, she was finally able to recognise her surroundings. She recognised the town they drove through at that moment; Midleton. The small town in Ireland where her uncle was searching tirelessly for signs of the Azran. She smiled to herself as they passed her school, the eastern European market in which she did her shopping... the signs of her own life were unmistakable. All thoughts of her future vanished as the taxi approached the house in which she and Leon were living in. Finally, after a week of crazy happenings and threats to their existence, she was home. But they weren't the only ones there.

As the two vehicles pulled up outside their estate house, a third followed them in. And everyone present knew exactly who it was.

Andrea stepped out of the back seat, a smug smile plastered on her face. "Nice of you to join me," she sneered.

"Vell, it is our house, you know," Little Emmy retorted.

"I assume you are here to send Emmy and Leon to the future, correct?" The professor stepped forward. Emmy, Claire and Luke followed.

"Yes, Layton." Andrea smiled wider. "And you're going to help me."

"Never!" Luke protested. "We would never fraternise with someone as selfish and single-minded as you!"

"Oh, wouldn't you?" Andrea raised an eyebrow. "Not even if the existence of you and your friends was at stake?"

"I..." Luke trailed off.

"As you all can see, my henchmen are all in our present, so I have no one to assist me in bringing little miss Bronev and her uncle to the future. This is where you all come in."

"Are you seriously suggesting that I kidnap myself and my uncle and send them forward in time just so you can threaten me with their existence?" Emmy said in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"You have no choice in the matter," Andrea smarmed.

"She's right."

Everyone turned and stared at the professor.

"If we do not help her, Little Emmy and Leon will never make it to the future and none of the events we've witnessed thus far will happen. We will all disappear... and this time, so will our Little Emmy and Leon. There will be no one to go back in time and prevent it this time. So we have to do as she says."

Claire glared at Andrea. "You are unbelievable."

Andrea scoffed.

"No, really. What kind of psychopath manipulates space time and puts everyone's life at risk, including her own, to try and tear apart a couple and get a man who clearly dislikes her to fall in love with her? Even if you get rid of Emmy, do you really think that he's going to want to come anywhere near you? After everything you've done?"

"Claire—" the professor began, but she cut across him.

"You've always been the same, you have. Always fighting with someone. Always the one with the biggest problem. You simply can't stand to see anyone happy, can you? Especially when I started seeing Hershel."

"Not that you even matter in this situation, Claire," Andrea snarled. "You'll be dead soon enough."

"YOU BITCH!" Markus lunged towards her, his hands balled up into fists. Bronev and Leon quickly grabbed his shoulders and tried to hold him back.

Andrea smiled smugly. "Sorry, darling, did I touch a nerve?"

"You don't even care, do you?! You don't care, you little bitch, YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKING CARE!"

"Markus, please just stop, it's not helping!" Claire cried.

"You bitch!"

"Stop it, Markus, please!" Emmy barked.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone stopped. Andrea's smug smile faded. Markus stopped struggling and yelling.

"Shouting and fighting like children is going to get us nowhere," celeste continued.

"Mother, I simply cannot just stand by and watch while she speaks to my sister like that!" Markus said, outraged.

"Well you're going to have to, because the longer we stand here yelling at Andrea, the greater the risk of waking the Leon Bronev in this house and messing up this whole situation even more," Claire pointed out. "Hershel is right. We have to help her send them forward in time to keep everything running smoothly." She turned to Andrea, an expression of disgust on her face. "What is your plan?"

"We could keep them sedated until we can get them to London. Then we can send them on to our time," Luke suggested.

"And how do you expect to be able to transport them to London under sedation without attracting unwanted attention?" Emmy asked cynically. "I mean, if I saw a little girl and a man unmoving in the back of a car, I'd call the police. And I don't think I'd be the only one who would do that, you know."

"Not if they aren't sedated to begin with," Andrea retorted.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Leon asked, frowning.

"I need you to go in there with little Altava and explain that they need to come with me."

There was a short silence at this statement.

Little Emmy's mouth quirked. "And you really expect me and Uncle Leon in zere to believe zat ve are really from ze future? Because I don't sink I vould, you know."

"That's why I need you two to go in there. If he sees you two, he'll believe it," Andrea said confidently.

"I still don't sink I vould," little Emmy smiled, shaking her head.

"Well you don't really know unless you try," Andrea snapped. "Now get in there and don't come out unless you're from a week in the past."

Leon and Little Emmy looked at each other. Leon gestured towards the house. "Come, Emmeline. Let's go." Little Emmy shrugged and headed towards the house. They approached the front door and rang the doorbell.

"Who the hell would be calling in the see us at this time of night?" Leon wondered as he descended the stairs tiredly. He opened the door. He blinked. "…can I help you?" he tried.

Leon smiled. "I need you to go with this psychopath to the future so you can worry about disappearing off the face of the earth and get sent home again a week later in order to prevent the world from ending, or whatever. Now go and get Emmeline and go with them." He pointed to the group, who were hovering awkwardly at the front gate.

Leon looked at Little Emmy, who nodded encouragingly. He frowned.

"Er…"

"You'll be alright. You just need to go with them and then go with what is happening. Trust me."

"Alright. Wait here." He went back upstairs.

Leon turned to little Emmy. "Do you think he believes us?"

Little Emmy smiled. "No."

Leon strolled over to Emmy's bedroom and knocked on the door. He waited a moment and knocked again, louder this time. The door creaked open and his niece stood before him in a yellow dressing gown looking exhausted. "Vat you vant?" she asked tiredly.

"Get dressed and come downstairs with me."

"Vy?"

"Just do as you're told."

"Ok."

"Good."

Leon then entered his own room and rummaged through the bottom drawer of the dresser. He then grabbed what he came in for – a pistol. "Anyone who thinks I'm fool enough to believe that story deserves a bullet between the eyes."

Andrea stepped forward in front of Leon. She smiled at Emmy and Leon arrived. She held out her hand. "No tricks, Bronev."

Leon said nothing. He placed a firm hand on Emmy's shoulder.

Andrea turned to Leon and Bronev. "Pin him down."

Leon tried to grab the gun, but he was too slow. His older counterparts lunged forward, knocking him and his niece clean off their feet and pinning him down so he couldn't move. Andrea leaned over him and grabbed the gun from his jacket pocket.

"Now, if you come quietly, neither you nor your little girl will get hurt," Andrea smiled. She then pointed the gun directly at Leon's heart. "And put down that vase, little girl; that's worth money, you know."

Emmy stepped back and put the vase back in its rightful place.

"Now. That's better. Now, get in the silver car over there, girl."

Emmy held her hands over her head as she approached the said car backwards, keeping a close eye on everyone she passed.

"Good girl." Andrea smiled. She turned to the mess of Bronevs on the floor before her. "Take him to my car. Then get the memory eraser from Layton's car."

The two older Bronevs did as instructed. Leon walked with them without causing a fuss; Andrea was still pointing the gun at him.

"Very, very good." Andrea smiled widely. "Everything is going according to plan."

Layton approached little Emmy, the memory eraser in hand. "Come now, my dear; let's go upstairs and see if we can put this whole experience behind you."

Little Emmy sat down on her bed, now dressed in her pyjamas, waiting anxiously for what was to come. She felt slightly sceptical of the machine's ability to wipe her entire memory of everything that had happened in the past week. It just felt like everything that had happened was simply too significant to forget. But the thing that weighed down on her mind the most was whether Andrea was telling her the truth or not. Even if her memory was to be wiped, she still felt that she needed an answer to that particular question. Little Emmy nodded to herself. She would have to ask Emmy.

There was a knock on the door as the professor, Emmy and Claire entered. Little Emmy looked up.

"Are you ready, my dear?" the professor asked gently. "Your uncle is fine. We removed the correct amount of memory and he will remember nothing of what has happened. He is sleeping now."

"I… I vant to talk to… to Emmy first," Little Emmy said. "Can I?"

"Of course," Emmy smiled. "I'll call you both when we're ready."

The professor nodded and beckoned for Claire to follow him out of the room. When they were gone, Emmy sat down beside her younger counterpart.

"So, what is it?"

"Er… Andrea… she said somesing to me earlier… on ze boat… and I vundered if it vas true…"

"What did she say?"

"She said Uncle Leon killed mother and Daniel."

Emmy said nothing.

"… Is it true?"

Emmy silently debated on whether or not to tell little Emmy the truth. On one hand, she wouldn't even be able to remember the answer to that question, or even the question itself, but then again, the last thing she wanted to do was to make her doubt the one person she trusted with her life, even if it was only for a few minutes…

"Emmy?"

Emmy turned to little Emmy, who was staring at her.

"No, Emmy. It… well… you know who it was… I just…."

"It still hurts," little Emmy whispered. "I know."

"It gets easier," Emmy promised. "Just stick with Uncle Leon and you'll be alright in the end."

Little Emmy smiled. "I knew she vas lying, but I just…"

"You had to ask," Emmy nodded. "After all, so many weird things have happened…"

"Yeah…"

There was a comfortable silence between the two.

"So, are you ready to forget this whole fiasco?"

Little Emmy laughed and nodded.

"Good. I'll get Layton and Claire." She got up and called them over.

"Right, are you ready Em?" Claire asked.

Little Emmy took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm ready."

The professor placed the helmet on little Emmy's head. She laid back on her pillows and closed her eyes. The professor checked that the correct amount of memory was to be removed, and when he was certain he activated it.

Little Emmy's head suddenly felt heavy. She felt so drowsy, more and more with every second that passed. She felt the warm blanket over her and the soft pillows behind her head, and for a moment it really felt like everything that had happened was a weird, freaky dream. Slowly, as the blue lights on the helmet flashed vigorously, the memories faded, her ability to recall the events growing fainter and fainter, until her mind was blissfully blank. She didn't bother to open her eyes. She was just too tired.

Layton turned to Emmy and Claire and smiled. "Well, Emmy, I think your younger counterpart is finally out of the danger zone."

Emmy smiled back. "Lucky for her."

"Now all we have to do is get the other Leon and little Emmy to the future and we're set," Claire said. She sighed. "I can't believe we have to actively assist Andrea in her plot in order to keep the peace in the space-time continuum."

"I know!" Emmy exclaimed quietly. "Hopefully, that's the last time uncle Leon will have to kidnap himself."

The three of them chuckled quietly.

"Well, we had better get back to the cars and prepare for our long journey," the professor said.

"Are we really heading back tonight?" Claire asked. "I mean, you've been driving all evening, as has Markus, and you must be exhausted."

"Well, I can't see any other alternative, as we must return my car and the one we hired. We can't just leave them here."

"I suppose you're right," Claire sighed. "But I'm driving us back. You need to get some sleep."

"Thank you, Claire," he smiled.

"Now, hopefully, after we send Leon and little Emmy to the present and we send Hershel home, we can ensure that Andrea is locked up for what she's done," Emmy said.

"Well, Emmy, judging by how she is orchestrating this whole charade, I don't think it will be that simple," the professor said, frowning. "This whole setup is more than odd. She wanted access to the machine in order to threaten our existences, yet all she managed to do was send little Emmy and Leon home and the other counterparts to our present. There is no threat to us at all in this agenda. She is practically helping us to set things straight. But how is this going to help her in her plot? Aside from guaranteeing the safety of everyone else, what exactly has she got to gain?"

"I'm not sure, Hershel…" Emmy frowned.

"This has to be part of a larger plan…" the professor frowned.

"…but what?"