TUoC: Chapter 11

Author's Note: This chapter contains major spoilers for the Unwound Future, the Layton game that happened a year before this story takes place (and the game that happens last on the Layton timeline; at least until The New World of Steam is released). I won't be holding back on these spoilers, so I apologize to those who haven't played it. Sorry!

Several hours passed by at the Peach Creek hospital, with it now being evening. The only two people that hadn't recovered yet were Jennifer and Eddy, much to the dismay of everyone. Zoey was by Eddy's side the whole time while only Jennifer's parents could be beside their daughter. Serena was released from the hospital already and was currently at Nazz's house for the night while Matthew was at Ed's house.

In the waiting room, we could see Double D sitting with his parents. Professor Layton was also there with them. It was then that Layton finally remembered who Aiden and Wendy were when he saw and talked to them. They both visited him a few months ago to ask him about a local company in London that was connected to Bill Hawks, the prime minister for the UK at the time. As much as he wanted to forget about that man, Layton told them what he knew about Bill's background as a scientist and the accident he caused eleven years ago, as well as the events that happened a year ago.

About a week later, the national news reported that Bill Hawks stepped down as prime minister after he was arrested for his connection in making a very dangerous drug that was being produced and sold on the black market; the company that was making the drug was Vergil and Rita's suppliers.

Layton was not surprised in the slightest about the news; all Bill cared about was money, so it was very cathartic for him to see that the former prime minister was finally being held accountable for something… Even if it came a little too late for some people to be happy about. Bill's past actions from the accident he knew would happen have made so many people go through severe pain and heartache, including himself.

'I should put that aside for now,' Layton thought with a sigh, 'There's no need to dwell on the past like that.'

"… Mr. Layton?"

Layton perked his head a little to look towards Double D, "What is it, Eddward?"

"Are you feeling alright?" Double D asked, "You looked a little upset when my parents were talking to you earlier."

"… It's nothing for you to worry about, my boy," Layton replied with a smile. He then got up from where he sat, walking towards the exit of the hospital to go outside.

Double D looked towards Layton with concern as he walked away, "Maybe I can ask Mother and Father about what's troubling him."

He got up from where he was sitting to walk over to where his parents were; they were talking to a nurse who was nearby.

"Hello Eddward," Wendy greeted her son as they finished talking to the nurse, "Do you need something?"

"Umm… I saw Mr. Layton talking with you two a while ago, and he looked upset for a moment," Double D started to say, "Is everything alright?"

His parents glanced at each other in silence before saying anything, "Do you happen to remember the big incident that happened in London about a year ago?" Aiden asked.

"I… believe so?" Double D stated with a nod of his head, "It was about the prime minister at the time and some sort of Underground London. I remember when it made international news from how huge it was. I also remember hearing that same prime minister was arrested a few months ago, but I don't remember why."

"Well…"

Double D's parents began to explain to him some of the details about the incident in London a year ago, telling him why it was called the Underground London case; someone had tricked several people into thinking they were ten years in the future when they were, in fact, underneath London the whole time; even to the point that landmarks were recreated to fool people. The prime minister back then, Bill Hawks, was kidnapped and sent there. Scotland Yard found him and the ones who did this, arresting his kidnappers and rescuing everyone from the Underground London area, which collapsed afterward. His parents also revealed to him that they were the ones who found out that the prime minister was involved with the group that helped fund Vergil and Rita's endeavors, leading him to step down and get arrested by Scotland Yard.

Double D was very surprised to hear this from them, but then a thought crossed his mind, "What does all of this have to do with Mr. Layton?"

"… Mr. Layton was the one who solved the mystery around that big incident last year," his mother started to say, "At the same time, he also discovered the truth about a past incident that was also caused by the same prime minister; and the reason why he was kidnapped. Bill Hawks was the assistant to a scientist named Dimitri Allen, alongside another assistant named Claire… She was Mr. Layton's girlfriend."

Double D started to feel a sudden sense of dread and sadness from what they were going to say next.

"Eleven years ago, all three of them were working on making a time machine," his father continued to say, "Bill decided to try it out with Claire against Dimitri's orders, but he overlooked something about the machine, and…" he paused for a moment before saying, "The machine exploded, killing Claire and several other people in an apartment building nearby. One of the people who kidnapped Bill was a victim of his accident, he lost his parents in the explosion."

Double D widened his eyes and gasped in horror, "… B-But wait a moment! Why was he not charged with manslaughter?! Political relations aside; accident or not, HE was the one who—"

His parents hushed him for raising his voice a little too loud, "Honestly, we have no clue how he got away with not being charged eleven years ago," his mom said with a sigh, "A lot of people believed he was paid to do the experiment, despite it being a failure; and then used the money he got to cover up his involvement."

"T-That… That's just awful," Double D muttered with sadness.

"I'm sure there's more to it that we don't know about," his dad stated, "But that's what we heard from our associates a few times."

Double D stood there for a moment, speechless from what he just learned. He turned back to the exit of the hospital before dashing off towards it; he wanted to find Layton to talk to him. His parents made a small sigh to him.

He saw Layton sitting on a bench near a tree that was next to the entrance to the hospital, he was looking up at the night sky, "Mr. Layton!"

"Hmm?" Layton looked at Double D in confusion when he noticed him approaching his side.

Double D started to pant a little from the sudden running, bending his knees a little before standing back up, "I wanted to ask you a question!"

Layton looked at him for a second before smiling, "Of course. What is it you need to know?"

Double D stayed silent for a moment before sitting down next to Layton, "Mother and Father told me about the incident that happened a year ago; with Underground London… And the incident eleven years ago," he then looked at him to ask, "How are not angry at the man who was behind all those incidences?"

Layton's smile went away, but he did not frown at the question he asked, "Because of what happened to Claire?"

"Y-Yes sir."

Layton made a sigh to Double D, "Holding any sort of grudge is not a good thing. I've seen many people suffer from those kinds of thoughts and actions for revenge, and it always leads to other people getting hurt or worse."

Double D stayed silent to his words before replying, "You're right, but that's… That's just too cruel to accept."

"… Eddward," Layton started to say, "What I'm about to tell you is something not many people know about."

"… Huh?"

"During that incident a year ago, I met a woman named Celeste, who told me she was Clarie's sister. She helped my assistant and I solve the case before things got any worse for everyone involved," Layton stated to Double D, "It was after the incident that I learned that Celeste was not her sister; she was actually Claire herself."

"W-What…?" Double D questioned in shock before realizing, "The time machine they were making actually worked?!"

"Yes, but her time there was not permanent," Layton explained, "The machine had brought her there from ten years in the past, but… She would eventually have to go back to the time of the accident that ended her life."

Double D was stunned to hear this, not really knowing what to say.

"After Claire departed, I began to realize how lucky I was to see her again, even if the time we had together again was very short," Layton continued to say, closing his eyes for a moment, "And yes, I know Bill Hawks caused her death all those years ago, but holding onto any sort of hatred is not something I can do; Claire knows this as well, and she knows I would not want to act like that for her sake," he opened his eyes to look back at Double D, "Besides, he is now behind bars; there's no need to dwell about him anymore, knowing that he is now being held accountable for something else he caused… That does give me some peace of mind."

Layton placed his hand on Double D's right shoulder, "Either way, you should meet back up with your parents, Eddward. It is getting very late right now."

"… Yes sir," Double D stated as he got up from the bench. He turned back around to Layton for a moment, "I, umm… I'm very glad to have met you, Mr. Layton. You've helped everyone out here so much, and I wanted to thank you for that."

Layton smiled at him, "Likewise. You and Jennifer are both very intelligent and have bright futures ahead of you. I wish you two the best, along with the rest of your friends."

Double D smiled back, nodding his head before walking back towards where his parents were inside the hospital waiting room. Layton made a big sigh to himself, looking back up at the night sky as he did, "Please, cherish the time you have with your friends and loved ones, Eddward."

"… Oh, Eddward!" his mom gasped out to him as Double D came back over to his parents, "Thank goodness you came back; the nurses just came over to tell us that Jennifer's parents asked for you personally!"

Double D widened his eyes; the way his mom sounded so urgent made him extremely scared and anxious. He ran off towards where Jennifer's room was located, hoping everything was alright. Once he arrived at her room, he could see Jennifer's mom and dad sitting next to Jennifer's bed. Jennifer was looking towards her parents before noticing Double D had come into the room, smiling at him. She was no longer pale from hypothermia; she was beginning to properly recover.

"J-Jennifer!" Double D gasped as he came to her bedside, restraining himself from reaching out to her, even when he was still wearing his gloves, "Are you feeling better?!"

Jennifer only nodded her head to him.

Double D could feel himself start to tear up a little before saying, "I'm so sorry for all of this! If it wasn't for me, you—"

He then felt Jennifer's hand grab onto his, "It's alright," she started to say with another smile, "N-None of this is your fault… Don't blame yourself, okay?"

Her parents looked at them with a small smile, "She still needs to rest for now," her mother started to say, "But we wanted you to know that she finally woke up."

Double D looked at her parents with a relieved smile, "T-Thank you so much for that."

Meanwhile, in another room nearby, Zoey was in Eddy's room, sitting next to him as he continued to sleep in his hospital bed. The doctors told everyone that he was not in a coma and had fully recovered, but they were very surprised that he had not woken back up yet; not even once. Despite hearing that he had fully recovered, Zoey was slowly starting to panic, losing hope that he would ever wake up. The fear she was feeling now started to set in.

"Eddy, please wake up!" Zoey started to say to him, reaching out for his hand to hold it, "You gotta be okay now; everyone says you've recovered! A-And yet…!" she could feel herself tearing up again, "And yet here you are, sleeping like a freaking lazy bum! The nerve of you!" she shook her head in denial, "You can't do this to your friends; or to me!"

Zoey made a sad sigh to herself. She let go of his hand to get up from where she was sitting, walking towards the window nearby to look outside.

"… … … Zoey?"

Zoey widened her eyes in shock as she turned back around to see Eddy; he was finally waking up. He started to move a little in his bed before opening his eyes, sitting up to look at her as he did, "How did I…?"

"Eddy!" Zoey cried with joy. She ran back over to his side to give him a hug, sobbing into his shoulder as she did, "I-I thought you would never wake up!"

Eddy sat there for a short moment before making a small smile, hugging her back. They stayed like this for a long time before Zoey let him out of her hug to sit back down next to him, she had finally stopped crying. Eddy looked down to her left hand, only to see the ring was now gone from her ring finger; his heart had sunk into his stomach. Zoey noticed where he was looking before realizing why he looked upset.

"Oh!" Zoey reached into her shirt collar to show Eddy that she was wearing a necklace that had the promise ring he bought hanging from it, "I'm sorry, I was hiding it from everyone else until you woke back up… I was never fond of wearing rings, so I found a necklace from my mom's jewelry box for it instead…" she glanced down to the ring on the necklace, "It's very beautiful, Eddy. Thank you."

Eddy made a smile at her, "Umm… I'm sorry I made you worry like that," he started to say before lowering his head a little, "I… I thought I died."

Zoey was silent to him for a moment, "… You did die."

"Huh?!" Eddy widened his eyes in horror, turning back to Zoey, "S-So now I'm in the afterlife or something? Are you not real?!"

"What the – Yes! I'm real, you dolt! You're not dead!" Zoey yelled to him with a bit of frustration. She then started to make an upset face from the memories, "After I came back to my senses, I saw you falling in front of me. You…" she closed her eyes, trembling as she did, "Y-You were dead; dead because of me! I killed you against my will!"

Zoey stopped for a moment to compose herself to not cry again, "It was then that Serena and Ed came over to us. She saw your condition and told me to shock you with the powers those scientists gave me, hoping it could help kickstart your heart," she looked back to Eddy, smiling to him, "I did as I was told. It took me three tries for it to work."

Eddy was stunned at what she was saying to him; she saved his life.

"Serena then healed your wounds as soon as she noticed you were breathing again," Zoey continued to say, "If it wasn't for her powers and quick thinking… you would still be dead."

The two teens stayed silent to each other for a moment.

"… Zoey."

She looked at him, "Yeah?"

Eddy could feel his heart pounding in his chest at what he was going to say, "I'm so glad you're okay after all that's happened. I…" he turned to her with a big smile, "I love you."

Zoey stared at him for a short moment before making a smirk back to him with a chuckle, "I can't believe you said that with a straight face."

"H-Hey! I was being serious!" Eddy retorted.

"I know you are, Eddy," Zoey replied. She got up from where she sat to walk over to him, "I love you too."

Zoey leaned in towards Eddy to give him a kiss, which he gladly accepted.

Author's Note (September 27th, 2023): Yay! There are only a few more chapters left! I think it might be two or three; if I had to take a guess. Stay tuned!

Chapter 11's Song Title: "Where the Stars Are Full" - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC