Professor Layton and the Rewound Repercussions –Part 8—

"Well…"

"Yes, professor. 'Well'."

"I don't know what to say, my boy."

"Oh, there are words that come to my mind. Four of them, actually."

"I know. I was wrong."

"Yes, you were."

Layton pressed a hand to his temple. "I've…I've failed you, my boy."

"You haven't failed me. I've had no expectations from the start, so you couldn't have failed me."

"We'll try again."

"No."

"We'll call for a—"

"Professor, stop this. You're only making a fool of yourself. I'll serve my sentence to term."

The professor paused. "What has changed, Clive?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Earlier, you told me you'd do anything to get out. Why the sudden change in heart?"

Clive smirked. "I have always been aware of my fate, professor. I've only recently decided to stop challenging it."

"There is no such thing as fate, Clive. We alone are responsible for our actions."

"Oh, I know that much. But if everyone is responsible for their actions, it follows that those actions may affect the outcome of a situation, despite a person's own course."

"In this case, the justice system."

"Precisely." Clive rested his chin on his hand. "You know me well, professor."

"Not well enough, apparently." Layton frowned. "I never thought you would accept the ruling so resignedly."

"I've given up, professor. That's all there is to it." Clive shrugged. "I had never hoped for a better outcome. I ruined people's lives—I understand that. I deserve this, no matter how you may try to argue. I may be a victim, but I'm also an aggressor."

"You say that, but I know that you realize it isn't true. What you did was merely the unfortunate path taken by a desperate man. You even said yourself that you invited me knowing full well the danger I posed to your plan. You wanted to be caught. You know that. I can only take that to mean—"

Clive slammed his fist into the partition, making the glass quiver. "Professor! What you don't seem to realize is that I did to others exactly what was done to me all those years ago. The only difference is that what I did was worse—I targeted all of London! Do you know how many people could have died? All those happy families I could have destroyed?"

"There were no fatalities, Clive. They covered that in the—"

"You aren't listening to me! It doesn't matter what did take place! What matters is what could have occurred! I could have torn apart so many…so many…" Clive dropped back into his seat, covering his face with his hands and leaning heavily on his knees. "I could have hurt so many innocent people…"

"But you didn't. What matters isn't the intangible what if's, but reality." Layton watched Clive cover his ears with his palms and shrink farther beneath the table. "I could have hit a pedestrian while driving here today, but I didn't."

At length, Clive took a deep breath and sat up straight, all traces of previous weakness vanished from his face. "There's a difference between us in your argument, professor."

"Oh? What is it, Clive?"

"You didn't plan on hitting that pedestrian."