This is my first fan fiction EVER, so I thought where better to start than Professor Layton? I have more exciting stories coming up so if you enjoy this look out for those!

Prologue: The girl from the past

London, 10 years after the explosion.

Layton stopped dead in his tracks; could it be? It couldn't: Claire was long gone, but the resemblance was unreal. Before he could stop himself Layton was running down the street after the girl, she turned into an alley way, but when he reached it she was gone. Gone, vanished into thin air. No, she had to be in one of the shops. Before he could follow her, Luke, who was panting after the run, arrived beside him.

"Who *huff huff* who was that, professor?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing" the professor replied, staring down the alley way, "... It was no one."

As the pair continued their journey to China Town there was silence, the professor had a very solemn expression. The silence was broken when Luke nervously turned to face Layton.

"Umm, professor?"

"Hmm?"

Luke fiddle with his fingers, "That woman, the one we followed, I, I could have sworn I'd seen her before."

"What?" the professor stopped walking and gave Luke a puzzled look, making Luke even more nervous.

"I said, I think I've seen her somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it." Layton was looking worried now, but he shook the expression off and continued walking.

"That's impossible" he said under his breath. Luke didn't dare contradict him, so he too started off in the direction of China Town. All the time the professor could not get the girl out of his head; if there really was a time machine here, Could it be Claire? And what was that Luke had said, that he had seen her before? Luke couldn't possibly remember, could he?