"All right," Aurora said calmly, though she looked slightly nervous as they flew in the Bostonius as the stones were laid before her on the table. With all of the stones gathered, it was now time to get the next key to continue onwards. "I'm going to release the power contained within the aura stones. Are you all ready?"
No one disagreed with this. It was time.
"This is it, Professor!" Luke looked really exciteded.
"It certainly is, Luke."
"Then let's begin."
Aurora shut her eyes. Looking entirely focused on the stones and trying to get some sort of reaction from them. Everyone stayed silent. Waiting for something. Light. Noise. Images. Anything at all. But eventually, there was a small reaction. The small stones on each of the eggs reacted and glowed. But there was a serious problem.
Only four of them were glowing.
"Why isn't that one glowing," Elaine murmured quietly. That didn't make sense. They should all be doing the same thing, shouldn't they? Aurora opened her eyes, frowning at the non-glowing egg.
"This… is not an aura stone."
"It's not!" Luke exclaimed. "You mean… it's a fake?"
"I… do not understand. If it were a fake, then it would not have resonated within my hands when we first acquired it…"
"Then presumably," the Professor began slowly. "The real stone was swapped out at some pointed and replaced with a counterfeit."
"I think it's likely Targent are behind this," Elaine spat. "There's the only ones who would 'ave reason to as far as I know."
"But why go through all that trouble?" Desmond questioned. "If they wanted the eggs, they could just as easily have swapped out all of them."
"Then perhaps their intent is not to hinder us, but to guide us," the Professor suggested, though he didn't seem too enticed with that plot.
"Professor, their intentions aren't what's important right now!" said Emmy. "What matters is getting that egg back!"
"You're absolutely right, Emmy," Luke quickly agreed. "But how might we track it down?"
"That's a point. If it really is Targent's doing, it won't be easy to track down one of their airships…"
"If I may interrupt," Aurora spoke up. "There's a possibility that the new location of the aura stone may appears on the walls of the Azran dome."
That suggestion was certainly a good idea. Not that they had much else to go on.
As they had had no specified location to go to just yet, they were able to set their course for Kodh. During the rest of the flight, Elaine had spent some of her time examining the false egg with some curiosity. She extremely happy that it wasn't one of those… damn popoños from San Grio. The first few were cute, but frankly she wasn't sure if she could put up with the sight of such knockoffs ever again. And she had to admit, the work put into making this egg was quite professional and well crafted. Fake or not, she made a mental note to make sure it would be alright to keep it. Unless one of the others wanted it of course, but if such a reason to discuss it came, it would be a talk for later on.
They had arrived to Kodh in a reasonable amount of time. Not much had changed since they were first here, though it did seem a bit more alive compared to their previous visit. They first allowed Aurora to change back into her Azran clothes before returning to the dome to look at the map once more.
"Um, Emmy, Elaine, do either of you dislike my outfit?" Aurora asked the two older women.
"Not at all," Elaine shuck her head. "I think they suit you quite perfectly."
"Not to mention they're part of who you are," Emmy added in. Aurora gave a small nod before looking down at herself briefly.
"I think… I feel more comfortable like this."
"I suppose our fashion career is over already, Emmy."
"It was fun while it lasted." Emmy chuckled, though there was a slightly sad smile on her face as she looked to Aurora. "Well… off you go then, Aurora."
"You needn't worry about me. I am fulfilling my mission, the purpose for which I am here." Aurora gave a small smile and moved towards the archway in the dome. She closed her eyes. Focused as she was back on the Bostonius. There was a slight flash as some of the lights changed. Aurora's idea had thankfully worked.
"I have… found it. I believe that the real aura stone can be found in…" Aruroa looked around the map before pointing to one spot. "This location." Elaine glanced to Desmond and could already see he was annoyed. This certainly wasn't a good sign.
"That is unfortunate…. But not unexpected." Elaine bit her lip. She already had a faint clue of what Desmond was talking about.
"You know this place, professor?"
"I'm afraid so," Desmond answered Professor Layton. His tone slightly grim. "The egg is currently being kept in Targent's headquarters, at the centre of a foul, unsavoury place known as the Nest."
"I don't wanna go back there!" Johanna looked a little pale, eyes wide as she looked desperately to Desmond.
"Johanna-."
"I don't want you to go either!" Johanna clung onto the edges of his jacket. "I don't want to lose you again!" Desmond frowned, not looking entirely comfortable. But he bent down and picked her up to give her a small hug, letting Johanna bury her head in his neck.
"Can you wait until we get back to the Bostonius to continue this talk?" Desmond asked gently. Johanna gave a small sniff.
"F-fine. But I still don't like it."
"I know, none of us do."
Johanna's reaction was understandable. Maybe her treatment there wasn't as bad as it could have been (at least Elaine hoped to God that was the case), Johanna obviously didn't want to return to place she was a prisoner in for three years, separated from the rest of the world and her father. Maybe she could have given them some direction to go in, but no one could force her to do something that made her uncomfortable.
When they had arrived back on the Bostonius and given Raymond the location of their next destination, Desmond had brought Johanna into his room to talk. With everyone else taking a small rest so that they would be prepared for when they landed back at the Nest, Elaine thought she would wait in the hall, sitting a little away from the door so she wouldn't look like she was eavesdropping. When Desmond came out alone, Elaine was quick to ask,
"'Ow is she?" Desmond sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"She's still upset about this and is adamant about not going. Though I was intending to leave her here with Raymond regardless of what she wanted."
"It would be 'ard coming back to a prison when you just escaped it," Elaine said. "And she still doesn't like you going?"
"Not at all," Desmond shuck his head. "She's afraid that they'll take me being taken away by them."
"You wouldn't let that 'appen though."
"Of course not."
"So, you're okay with leaving 'er 'er with Raymond?"
"I trust he'll protect her," Desmond said with a nod. "She should be asleep during most of this brief… 'detour', anyway." Elaine frowned at that.
"Asleep? I know she's a growing girl but… I'm not sure I like what you're saying." Desmond glanced away before saying,
"I… I plan to ask Raymond to add a little something to Johanna's brioche. Just enough to make her sleep for a few hours."
"What?!" Elaine hissed. "You're going to drug your daughter?!"
"Calm down!" Desmond hissed back. "The way I see it, it will keep her from having to worry about us and from having to see the entire Nest from outside the window! I'm not proud of it, but the powder is harmless against children Johanna's age and it will only be this once!"
Elaine tightened her lips as she stared at Desmond.
"… Descole's coming back, isn't 'e?"
"Soon," Desmond said coolly. "You knew this would happen eventually, Elaine."
"That doesn't mean I'm going to like this."
"That won't change my intentions, darling puppy. However, I will keep my promise and explain as much as I can once we've reached the legacy."
"And then it's over?" Elaine asked.
"I'll make sure of it." If Desmond had intended for that to sound reassuring, he hadn't exactly accomplished that. Elaine glanced back to the door. She was tempted to ask how certain he was that Johanna would suffer any consequences from the drug, but didn't comply to it. She knew Desmond would never purposely harm his only child, and would have possibly done multiple checks just to make sure.
"If I didn't know you any better…" Elaine muttered.
"But you do. At least, better than most people," Desmond murmured as he walked towards her and kissed the top of her head. "You should rest now. And try to stay close to me when we land, alright? You may not be helpless, but you don't exactly have the greatest record for avoiding trouble."
"And whose fault is that?"
Well, it's the one hundredth chapter everyone! I command all of you to celebrate! Celebrate, damn it!
Anyway, I wanted to make this chapter a little special. I couldn't think of anything good for the Omake Theatre, and I considered having Elaine meet my character Erika from another story I did that had more than a hundred chapters along with Dead Flesh and Madam Merry-Go-Round, but I'm not sure how many of your would be familiar with Creepypasta.
So, I thought I'd talk a little of my intended sequel. I won't say much since I don't want to spoil Azran Legacy or the sequel itself, but I'll say what I can.
I have thought of a small story arc involving mystery solving, and already have two characters mostly planned out for it! That doesn't mean for certain they'll appear, but they're ideas.
The first a Belgian woman who runs a casino. I haven't given her a name yet, or decided whether I want to make her from the Wallonia region or Flanders. She at first comes across as uncaring and a little lackadaisical, thinking only of spending time in her office. Her comments are usually said in a dry tone. She smokes with a cigarette holder and in the past had a drinking problem due to a loss that broke her hard. She's mostly steady now, but has on occasion had relapses. There's not much more I can say about her without spoilers. (P.S, if anyone knows if there are distinct accents between the French, Dutch, German speaking regions of Belgium, please let me know)
The second is another yet to be named character. They dress in a manner similar to V from the comic and film 'V for Vendetta', but without the cape and hat, and the mask more like Descole's but pointed around the ends. They are androgynous and no one is certain of this person's gender. They are whimsical and has showman qualities. They have what could either be an interest or obsession with the Seven Deadly Sins, and their vessels ;)
That said, assuming I go with the plot I have in mind for this, this arc will have references to Vocaloid songs from the Evillious Chronciles. Mostly the ones for the Seven Deadly Sins. Though at time of writing this, Wrath still has yet to be released, but I digress.
I have other ideas, but that's all I fell I can show without too much spoilers ;)