AN: Review replies!
Just. : Thanks for reviewing! :) I was pretty proud of this idea when I came up with it, thank you! :)
Descole'sApprentice: Thanks for your review! :) And here is the final chapter for you now! :)
Abitat Eco: Thank you, Abbie! Well, any time Layton would have been told, he would have ignored, forgotten (possibly forced to forget) or denied their statement, due to his mental instability. I tend to skip over small things like that, sorry!
The Mocking J: Thanks for the review! And, yeah, you'll get a happy ending. I couldn't leave it with Layton's destruction.
Now, please enjoy le final chapter of A Perished Atmosphere...(Oh and some of the lines in this are taken from the after credits scene of Lost/Unwound Future. Which I don't own.)
A Perished Atmosphere
Chapter Five
The sun was shining.
The Professor stood on a dock on the South of England, ready to say goodbye to another one of the faces of his life... And the sun was shining, when just days ago, it was snowing. It seemed strange to him, too, at the time, that it was snowing in the late Spring, but now it made perfect sense. Before, he was not ready for the sun, but now, he would let it shine on him.
The Professor smiled, as he looked up. He had not felt many things for such a long time, and that included true happiness. The sensation he felt when he saved, discovered and investigated what ever he thought he was now seemed so peculiarly frail. Even the emotions he had felt occur for the pats ten years, they were nothing but his imagination, too, it would seem. He wouldn't describe his current feeling to be happiness- content, maybe- but it had been so long since he felt so real and, to be frank, alive that he was the happiest he could ever remember being. If this was what it was like to live properly, then what would the days, weeks, months and years that would follow hold? After all, this was almost the beginning of his life again.
Of course, it hadn't been easy after Doctor Altava had broken the news that had in turn broken his own world. In all honesty, it still wasn't. His mind was still trying to trick him, turn him back to the sweet looking glass that he hid himself behind, but he was finding ways to fight it- though he had yet to learn to ignore it. But his grasp of reality was firmer and much more stabler. In fact, Doctor Altava had taken back her last diagnosis of schizophrenia, since his improvement of mental health was occurring too rapidly to be a branch of schizophrenia. Instead, she'd decided that his delusions were due to the build-up of trauma that he had experienced during his lifetime; the kidnapping of his parents; the death of his best friend; and the death of the love of his life. After all, just one of those events were enough to make one's life traumatising enough, but for all three? Why, it was perfectly understandable. He was terrified of ever experiencing any grief ever again, and so he had placed himself in a world of his control, so that he never would.
Now, however, the Professor was realising that he would much rather live in the real world. It had been ten years since he last had, and now that he was taking his first few steps he realised that he was finally ready to do so. This was not to say that he was over everything, it troubled him deeply... But he had accepted his unfortunate events and no longer needed his façade.
He looked up in time to see a young boy approaching him, and he smiled warmly. He would be saying goodbye to someone very important today, but he wasn't sad to do so. He needed a fresh start to gather his life together, and the boy did to. It was also time for him to say goodbye to the Professor's illusion.
"Professor Layton..." Luke began as he looked up at him. He kept his blue cap tilted over his face, as if to block the bright sun from his face, but really he was hiding his quivering lip and teary eyes from the Professor.
"Hello, Luke," The Professor nodded. "Are you all ready? Your ship departs soon."
"Yes, all the luggage is onboard... We're just waiting for the passengers to be allowed on, now," Luke replied, keeping his eyes down towards the ground. It wasn't much of a puzzle to the Professor, he knew that Luke was rather sad to go. He was,however, surprised when Luke lifted his face and looked him in the eye. "I don't understand why we have to go."
"Well-"
"We were going to go before because Mum and Dad didn't want me to go places with you. They thought it was dangerous..."
"And-"
"But you're not now. Well, I don't think you ever were dangerous," Luke protested, refusing to let his mentor (no matter what, he would always be his apprentice, just like he'd always insisted upon) get a word in edgeways. "You're better now, though. So why do we still have to go?"
There was a rather angry tone in the young apprentice's words, which surprised Layton greatly. Luke's sentiment to him was both flattering and reassuring, however the Professor almost found it to be worrying. He'd exposed the child to his imaginations and though he'd technically never put him in danger, he felt guilty to know that he'd spent so much time with the boy when he wasn't even sane. Surely, Luke hadn't of deserved that.
Clark and Brenda had admitted that they felt the Professor was safer with Luke, and that he would help him find his grasp on reality, but it was clearly now nothing but wishful thinking. It had always been clear to the Professor that Luke was a thoughtful and generous young gentleman, but even so, his mental stability should not have been put down to him, no matter how mature Luke was.
"Luke," The Professor began, finding it hard to sustain a balance between a firm and gentle tone and expression. "I do think it's best if you go."
Luke merely gasped, not even being able to say a word in response. This allowed the Professor t4o explain his reasons further.
"We're still firm friends, of course," The Professor assured, crouching down to the boy's height and placing a hand on his shoulder. "And I am extremely grateful for how much you've supported me these past few years, but it's time for a fresh start. For both of us."
"Will I... Will I see you again?" Luke asked. He appeared rather hesitant in asking this, as if he feared the answer.
"But of course." A smile spread across the Professor's face as he replied. "Besides, this is not goodbye, this is so long."
(The Professor was not yet ready for another goodbye.)
There was a sudden and rather loud honk from the soon departing ship, which made those waiting by the dock jump in fright. Not a second after, was there the sound chains rattling, followed by a thump as the wooden bridge that allowed passengers to board the ship hit the ground of the dock. The Triton's ship was now boarding.
"Luke!" A voice from about fifteen feet away called, although it sounded fainter due to the crowds on the coast. Both the Professor and Luke looked over to see Clark, Luke's Father and the Professor's oldest friend, calling over and waving his arm up in the air to catch their attention- just in case he couldn't be heard over the sound of the ships and the crowd.
"Well, then, so long, Luke," The Professor said, standing up straight and tipping his hat in a farewell bid, and holding out his hand.
"Uh..." Luke paused in reluctance, but composed himself. He copied the Professor's position and gripped onto his hat, then also held out his hand and shook it. "So long, Professor Layton."
"Luke!" His Father called again.
There was much more that could have been said, but it felt wrong to say anything more now that there farewells had been given. Instead, the two exchanged a small, final nod. Then, Luke ran off towards his Father, ready to embark on his own adventures.
The Professor glanced up and watched Luke trail away, until he disappeared into the crowds. Just as Luke did so, he caught Clark's stare. Though there had been a so long between the Professor and Luke, neither of the men felt that there was one needed between them. After all, Clark doubted the Professor was ready for any more goodbyes. And so, they exchanged a nod, much like The Professor and Luke, as well as a small smile. Both their life's could now travel in safer, different directions.
The Professor waited until the ship departed from the dock before he left. Even when the ship had began its journey, he watched it make its way down the channel, and even when it had disappeared into the horizon, the Professor remained. He glanced across the shining sea bed and felt the sun on his face. He really never had felt so alive.
Even just to look out at the sea and the sky was so incredibly refreshing, the Professor almost didn't want to leave. He couldn't move his eyes away from the scenery that surrounded him, as he realised that the whole world was still there, just where it had been when he left it those ten years ago. He remembered what he was like back then; determined; intrigued; prepared. He had been so desperate for the adventures to come to him, that he had made up his own. But now? Now, he was ready to find and face his own, true adventures.
And that was exactly what he did next.
AN: Thanks for all your reading and reviewing, and I hope you enjoyed the final chapter! (I'm really surprised I've finished it actually. Like. Whut.) Anyhow, I will post a new story soon, too, now that this one's finished. And I hope you enjoyed A Perished Atmosphere. A final review would be great. :)
Nikki~