Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton nor Luke Triton since they both belong to Level-5 games and nobody else, in fact I own nobody of the professor layton franchise!
Down goes the apprentice.
Professor Layton sat at Luke's side, holding a box just on a spot on the bed between Luke and himself as the former used a gentle voice in an attempt to help his young charge smile, if even a tiny bit.
The gentleman wearing the brown top hat held the book open and slowly pointed to each picture depicting both himself and Luke when they were in their early days. Luke would still be motionless and barely blinked to keep his eyeballs healthily moist but he seemed to grasp slowly what was being said.
"...And here, my boy, you had managed to get up a tree. I had spent hours trying to ferret you out but only when I started looking in the garden did I find you."
The professor chuckled lightly at the memory as he pointed to a picture of a younger professor, clad in a red vest and white shirt underneath, looking startled when a one year old Luke seemed to have dropped down on the professor's shoulder with some twigs and leaves stuck in the boy's hair.
Luke seemed to have recalled such a moment even though for others it was mostly impossible. He did have a photographic memory that could help him recall a few details mentioned by his mentor maybe a few minutes or so prior. It also helped with his extraordinary ability to speak to animals.
Moving on, the professor moved on to another picture. This one captured a moment when the professor was smiling at the camera yet a finger was in front of his lips in a shushing motion as he stood over Luke who seemed to have been a few months old at the time and was fast asleep in the picture.
"This was when you were asleep, Luke, I thought that moments like those were very endearing for me whence I recalled how small you were as an infant." The professor softly reached forwards so he could touch Luke's face and traced a gentle finger along his sweaty forehead.
Luke shifted a tiny bit at the tickling brushing of the professor's fingertip but it was clear he was trying to smile for him since every so often Luke would just twist one corner of his lip upward but it fell back down when he was too exhausted to lift the other side. He couldn't do anything, he felt so utterly useless right now.
The boy wheezed weakly, a weak hand pressed roughly against his chest and he began to hack up some very fruity coughs. His small eyes screwed shut as he gritted his teeth in pain and he bolted upright, coughing as loudly as his inflamed lungs would allow.
Once again Professor Layton stroked the boy's sweaty back attentively, concern on his lips for the umpteenth time today, and he just murmured some words of encouragement for his sickly young apprentice. He would have tipped his top hat in sympathy for the young boy but realised that doing this would probably make Luke feel bad.
"Easy..." The professor sighed sadly, continuing to run his hand up and down along Luke's back to try and soothe both his emotions and his nasty coughs. He could hear those rattles mingling with Luke's rather desperate attempts to breathe on his own but it seemed that it would take awhile for that medicine to kick in. Luke sat up so quick that his cap must have been knocked off of his head, landing on his clenched knees.
The professor gently pushed Luke back down before he picked up the fallen cap and placed it gently back atop of Luke's head so it would cover up most of the boy's unkept blonde hair. All Luke could do was just look and stare randomly off into space with little to no response to anything of what he was being told at all as his head thumped back against his lumpy pillow.
The professor of archeology tucked the blankets lightly around Luke who simply gave a soft, low whine of plea.
"Wh-What is it, my boy?" The professor asked, surprised.
This was the most vocal the boy had been all day. He also seemed a tiny bit more active than earlier as if a sudden clutch of strength had filled him unexpectedly. Luke tried to communicate but he simply gave an upset sigh as he cast his eyes down towards his rising and falling chest, watching his own breathing as he tried to say something. Yet he was too tired to form the words.
He had defeated himself.
The professor seemed to have understood exactly what his loyal young apprentice was trying to say by the greatly saddened look in his innocent eyes and the way he seemed to have been displaying his emotions. He gave a small smile at Luke's slight pouting face and spoke gently, stroking Luke's sweaty forehead with his thumb.
"Luke, my boy," The professor began "I understand what you are trying to tell me." His eyes softened as he ceased stroking the boy's head and instead went to capture his small hand in his own larger one in an effort to quell his worries "you do not need to feel sorry one bit. Nobody can control when they are ill or not so it is not your fault."
Luke gave a tired few gasps as he mouthed a meek "thank you" without a sound coming from his lips. He gave a very tired eye gesture to the book the professor had brought as if to silently request that he continue reading to him until he once again faded into an unconscious obscurity, one hand grabbing the soft sheets blanket of his bed and the other in the professor's hand.
Professor Layton didn't dare hesitate in doing as the boy silently requested and continued reading to him about all the times they spent together.
The brown and orange clad archeologist just resumed skimming through many different memories the two shared that had been forever stamped into this photo album and he just continued to narrate in a warm, quiet voice that mingled with the pouring rain that battered the windows outside yet the professor's voice reigned over whatever other noise acted as a slight bit of ambience.
He just continued to be seated on a chair at Luke's bedside, recalling many memoirs as he did as if they happened only yesterday.
However, both Luke and the professor were very much unaware that there would be danger arising soon. Neither of them suspected that a certain enemy would take his revenge just a little too far...
A/N: Sorry this was a short chapter. I was just keen to update this and make you all happy. We see more Luke and Layton fluff at least here and who will be the one to commit this heinous deed?
Btw, I never had pneumonia before. I am just going off of what I researched and what I saw in "The Secret of N.I.M.H" when I saw that one, adorable scene with Mrs Brisby. Its a good film so if you haven't seen it yet then I highly recommend it because its a master piece of animation!
Anyways let's see where this goes, shall we?
Don't forget to review.
-Chloemcg