AN: Right it's been ages since I've updated this fic, but it really is the hardest fic I have to write. So apologies about that...

Anyhow, hope you enjoy.

A Perished Atmosphere

Chapter Two

That night, Professor Hershel Layton tossed and turned in such a ferocious manner, the bed was shaking. He had always been a sufferer of bad dreams, but tonight it seemed to be worse than normal. In fact, the nightmares started before he'd fallen asleep; before his head had hit the pillow. His thoughts had been polluted with dark mist since that one, fateful day ten years ago. But now, right now, they'd never been this bad.

"Hello! Is anyone home?"

Hershel's eyes sprang open at the sound of that voice. It wasn't just any old voice... It was hers. It rang through the empty halls like a lost puppy; that voice hadn't echoed down those halls for years on end, and oh, how it had been missed. The Professor jerked awake and bolted upright, all within a second. That was always the effect she had on him.

At first, he thought her voice was just another illusion of his mind- another nightmare... But just as he was about to settle down back to sleep, there was the voice again. He didn't need to pinch himself to tell that he was awake.

"Hello?"

Her voice seemed to call down the corridor, being carried by nothing but air. There was no ghostly whisper of the wind along with it. Her voice sounded pure and alive; just how it had earlier, when she was alive again for such a short while. It was as if she was in the house... And was she...? Could she really be...? Given the events of earlier, it was most certainly plausible...

He jumped out of bed and out of his room, but not before forgetting his top hat. He didn't want to her to see him without the top hot that she had lovingly given him ten years ago. And so, he ran out into the hallway, holding tightly onto the rim of his hat so it wouldn't blow off in his rush.

"Claire?" The Professor cried out in desperation. "Claire...! Claire?!"

Sprinting through the dark hallways and turning on each light as he went through each room, Hershel continued to shout her name. Please... No. No, she had to be here. She wouldn't leave again, would she? That had definitely been her voice. That had been her voice in the house. She couldn't have gone again so quickly. Surely...

Within a minute, the Professor had searched every room in the house, he was so fast. The last room he burst into was the kitchen, and just like every other room in the house, it was empty. There had been no sign of an entry, either. All the doors and windows remained locked shut, just as they had been when the Professor went to bed that evening. Had it really been his own imagination? But it had seem so real...

It had seemed as real as everything else in his world.

-X-X-X-

Six hours later, Clark found the Professor curled up on the downstairs hallway in his top hat and pyjamas. The man appeared to be asleep, but it was hard to tell. He'd never been a snorer (he knew from their time at University together) and his head was leaning against the wall, and his top hat hiding his face from view. Clark sighed heavily and crouched down to his level.

"Hershel," Clark said firmly, placing his hand on his shoulders and giving him a gentle shake. "Hershel! Wake up!"

"Uhh..." Hershel mumbled, his eyes beginning to open. "Uhhh... Clark?"

Blinking his eyes open, Hershel looked up at his old friend drearily as he blurred into view. For the Professor, things were always in some sort of blurry haze, but always more so when he was waking up.

"Hershel, what are you doing down here?" Clark asked. It was hard for Clark to hide his anger, but it came from kindness. It came from where he had seen his friend deteriorate in such a severe way over so many years. He thought his heartbreak would heal. But no, it never had. Instead, it had caught hold of his mind and twisted and warped the world around him. It hurt him to see his best friend in such a way.

"I... I heard her v-voice..." Hershel stuttered as he rose to his feet. "I was looking-"

"Stop it, Hershel!" Clark snapped. "Stop it right now! Snap out of it, you're a grown man, for heaven's sake!"

Hershel froze in shock, his eyes dilated slightly as he looked on at Clark.

"Clark..." He began. He was rather confused as to what Clark was going on about. Understandably. After all, he didn't see what Clark did.

"Hershel, you heard me," Clark went on. "You need to stop this madness at once!"

"Clark, I don't understand..." Hershel absent-mindedly responded, his brow furrowing.

Clark sighed deeply. Of course. Of course, Hershel didn't understand. He couldn't solve the one puzzle that mattered now. The one staring him right in the face. Maybe the clues just weren't there, or perhaps he was ignoring them? Yes, that sounded right. He wanted to avoid reality. All along, Clark had been hoping that maybe there was one, tiny part of him that would make sense of it all. That would understand what Clark was talking about, and that then the pieces would be put together. Then, there would be an end to the madness. But, it appeared not.

"Hershel, perhaps we should go and sit at the table..." Clark gently ushered, pulling his friend into the dining room and almost forcing him to take a seat. Clark took one opposite him. "Hershel, last night, Luke told us some rather distressing things..."

"Yes! North Huldberry was completely destroyed!" Hershel exclaimed. "I did my best but many lives must still have been lost. Surely it's been on the news. Here's what happened-"

"Hershel, Hershel," Clark shushed holding up his hand to allow him to talk. "Please allow me. Last night, Luke told us that you saw Claire again."

"Yes, I did!" Hershel exclaimed. "Then during the night, she was here again..."

Clark sighed again. He had forgotten how difficult it was to deal with Hershel. He remembered how and why he'd stopped trying to convince him otherwise; it was for this exact reason. He had been stupid enough to think time would heal him. Oh, how selfish he sounded now. But just looking at Hershel made it so obvious how great the problem now was. His ideas and dreams only ever became more elaborate.

"Hershel," Clark began softly. "You know as well as I do, that it's impossible. Claire died in a fire at her workplace, when an experiment- which was on radioactive poly-molecules,not time travel- was not properly assessed for risks."

Hershel said nothing. He merely looked down and went silent. Clark began to wonder if he'd finally gotten through to him.

"Excuse me, Clark..." Hershel said, beginning to stand from his place at the table. "It's nearly half past seven. I must go and wake Flora for school."

Clark closed his eyes in frustration. Of course, it was too good to be true. It was Clark's time to excuse himself.

"Hershel, there was another reason I came here this morning," Clark said as he stood. "I came to let you know that I'm moving. Of course, Brenda, Poppy and Luke will be coming with me. We'll be leaving at the end of next week."

"And so Luke...?"

"Yes, I'm very sorry. So is Luke, of course..." Clark paused to collect himself. "Goodbye, Hershel."

AN: And now how we'll Dark!Layton get on without his apprentice?

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

A review would make my day!"

Nikki~