Inside of the Towering Pagoda, Layton was pacing angrily back and forth across his office, his footsteps echoing mockingly. He'd failed to get back one of his subjects and, surely now, he was far into the Resistance's base, away from his grasp. This fact angered him greatly and, reaching one of his gloved hands out, he grabbed a heavy book up from off of his desk, throwing it across the room. The book thumped loudly against the door, which was just being opened as the book hit. And the person opening it was none other than Emmy Altava.

Emmy cringed back a tad before sauntering her way in, closing the door soundlessly behind her.

"Have you found him yet, Emmy?" Layton asked her. She shook her head, making Layton growl out.

Emmy kneeled down in front of him in shame. Her search for the boy had been fruitless, both him and the resistance member having disappeared into the night. "I'm sorry, Master. I wasn't able to find either of them." A swift smack to her face, but she didn't so much as flinch at this. She had deserved it.

"Were you able to find anything at all? !" Layton bellowed.

At this, Emmy nodded. "Yes, Master. I did manage to find one thing." She lifted up Luke's satchel, which he had dropped while he was escaping with Flora.

The sight of the bag made those analytical gears in Layton's mind to start turning. How could he use this to his advantage? His eyes brightened as he solved this rather advantageous 'puzzle'. Grinning, he took Emmy by the hand and lifted her to her feet, taking the satchel into his grasp.

"Yes...this will do nicely..." He went back to his desk, pulling a small device out of one of the drawers. He stuck the device to the inside of the front flap of the bag, the color of the device changing to the same shade as the bag's, the device perfectly camouflaged. He then handed it back to Emmy. "Take this back out to where you found it. And make sure it stays in a place where they can see it."

Emmy confusingly took the satchel back, putting it over her shoulder. "We're just going to give it to them? Just like that?"

Layton smirked mischievously at her. "My dear, I wouldn't dare just give it to them. No, that bag holds a little surprise that will lead us right to their base." He ushered her towards the door. "Now, go do as I say. I have to go take care of my beautiful 'daughter'."

Meanwhile, Flora was in the room they'd left her in at the top of the Pagoda. It had been her room while she'd been under Layton's control, just a few rooms down from his. Layton preferred for them to be close by so he could keep an eye on them.

Flora was sure that they'd left guards at her door, but, right now, her focus wasn't on the door, but on her window. She was looking out into the night, hoping, praying that Luke would be alright. As she was watching out, a dark shadow down by Chinatown's gate caught her attention. Two more shadows passed the gate, heading towards the Pagoda.

'I wonder who that could be...' Flora thought, her eyes following the shadows as they got closer. Her eyes widened as the shadows leapt up over the gate leading to the Towering Pagoda. They were heading towards here. It was then she lost sight of them. She frantically searched for them, hoping that they were alright. She felt that they were there to help her. She could only hope so.

As Flora stood by the window, a shadow crept up behind her, the person's hands reaching out for her. Next thing Flora knew, the hands were over her mouth, preventing her from screaming.

"Hello, my dear Flora." Layton whispered maliciously into her ear.

Outside the Pagoda, up on the rooftops in the shadows, three Black Ravens stood, one of them watching with a pair of binoculars. One of the ones not looking lifted his mask, revealing Lando underneath, a large bruise on his cheek and over part of his eye.

He'd started following after the men who'd taken Flora, but, right when he was about to confront the men, Emmy had jumped in front of him, preventing him from getting to them. The two of them had fought just long enough for the men to get Flora past the gate to the Pagoda. That was how he'd gotten the bruise, when Emmy had kicked him face-first into a wall before she ran.

That was when he'd ran back to the Resistance base and asked if Crow and Badger could help him get in. The two had agreed and, thus, the three of them were out here, trying to see if there was a way to get into Flora's room at the top of the Pagoda.

"Do you see anything yet, Crow?" Lando asked the teenager. Crow shook his head. His mask had already been taken off when he started to look through the eye pieces, so Lando was able to see the frown on his face.

"Nothing yet. Are you sure they put her in there?" He asked skeptically.

Badger nodded, taking his mask off as well. "I saw her looking out of her window when we jumped up here. I think she may have saw us coming in."

Crow's frown deepened. "Then why can't we see her now?"

Lando looked back to the window. He had a very bad feeling about this. "I think we may need to get higher."

"We can't!" Crow exclaimed. "If we do, they'll be able to see us."

Lando shook his head. "Do you have any better ideas? We need to know what is going on in there. It's vital that we see inside of that room."

"He has a point, Crow." Badger piped up. "Besides, as long as we stay in the shadows, we should be fine."

Crow looked back and forth at the two before sighing, shaking his head in defeat. "Alright, we'll go a little higher. But, if they see us, we leave, no questions asked."

Lando nodded. "Fair enough." He put his mask back on before he ran and jumped to a fire escape of a nearby building. "Now, come on. We don't have all night!"

Crow and Badger put their masks on as well and followed after Lando as he jumped higher and higher to the top of the building. The top was just high enough for them to see the inside of Flora's room and what they saw made them stop short.

They could faintly hear her whimpers as a man that they could only guess was Dimitri came closer to her and Layton, who was holding her down. Dimitri had a syringe with a strange yellowy-greenish liquid inside of it. Flora was struggling, trying to get out of Layton's arms, who had his hand over her mouth to prevent her from crying out. As Dimitri got closer, Layton pulled Flora's hair back, exposing her neck. When the syringe hit her there, she cried out before slumping over as the serum went into her body.

There was nothing that the three freedom fighters could do but stare as Layton carefully let her go as she slowly stood up again. Lando reached frantically for the binoculars, Crow handing them over to him, shocked at what he'd just seen. Lando brought the binoculars up just as Flora opened her eyes. They had gone dull, having turned black instead of the brown they'd been before. There was no emotion in them whatsoever.

They were too late. They'd lost Flora to him again and there was nothing they could do about it.

The morning sun brought both relief and a curse. Relief because they could now make it the rest of the way to the base and, thus, to the Resistance. But, a curse because, as Luke was waking up from his restless slumber, the dull morning light brought the knowledge of everything back to him.

He'd cried all of his tears the night before, but it was still hard for him to grasp. 'What am I going to do? After hearing all of that, I'm not even sure if the Professor can be brought back from his madness like I'd hoped.'

"Urgh..." Clive groaned as he awoke beside Luke, his back sore from having slept against the hardwood bookcase.

"Morning, Clive." Luke whispered, his mind still wandering.

Clive looked over to him and ruffled his hair a little bit before standing and stretching. "How are you this morning, Little Luke?"

Luke gazed up at him, before looking to his hands, seeing the cuts he'd gotten the night before closed up. "Well, I'm alive...if that counts for anything."

Clive frowned a little, kneeling down by the boy. "Luke, I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head though, pulling himself up to his feet. "Don't be, Clive. There's nothing we can do to change the past. We can only go forward from here."

Clive nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Well then. Are you ready to meet the Resistance today?" He asked, smiling.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

When they stepped out of the old library, they were greeted with warmth from the sun. It was one of those rare days when the sunlight was able to peek out from the ever-cloudy sky. It made the two of them sigh in relaxation. It felt good. Well, it did, until they heard shouting from the right of them.

They turned their heads, only to jump back when a gunshot landed in front of them.

"Run!" Clive shouted, grabbing Luke by the arm and pulling him down the street, the Family behind them. It hadn't occurred to the older teen that the Family would still be looking for them. Well, now he was paying for that. He cursed fiercely when a bullet whizzed past him.

He pulled Luke down a side alley, pushing him up against the wall before he opened a manhole, leading down into the depths of the city. Clive grabbed for Luke again, pulling him onto his back as he started to climb down, the manhole cover going back over the hole just as the Family rounded the corner.

The two of them stayed silent, watching the men through the small holes in the manhole above them. They didn't even breath in fear that they would hear. It felt like hours, but the men finally left, the two teens letting out the air they'd been holding in.

"That was too close." Luke said, relieved, but still on edge.

Clive nodded in agreement. "You've got that right. Luckily enough, I knew where we were going, so we're actually not too far from the Resistance's base."

Luke crinkled his nose. "You mean, their base is down here? In the sewer?" For that was where they were. A small river of sewer water was to the right of them, flowing towards the outside of London. The scent of it made Luke gag a little bit. It was awful.

"Well, not exactly." Clive said, smirking as he started down the side pathway of the sewer. "Just hold on. It's a bit farther in."

Well, a bit farther in turned into about seven miles, Clive having been walking for hours. Luke had fallen back asleep on his back and Clive had just about had enough of it. Finally, he stopped, letting go of Luke's legs, which he'd been holding up to help support the boy on his back. Luke landed onto the ground with a hard thump, followed by a yelp of pain.

"Ow! Clive! What the heck? !"

"Sorry, Luke. But, we're almost there."

Luke huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, you didn't have to drop me!"

Clive turned, glaring at him. "Look, it was either you dropped or I did from having to carry you around for these past several hours. So just deal with it!"

Luke rolled his eyes, pushing himself up and dusting himself off. "Yeah, whatever."

Clive groaned in frustration, but led the boy down a little farther before stopping. He felt Luke collide with his backside and heard the thump, meaning that Luke had ran into him. 'Expect an outburst from Luke in three...two...one...'

"Hey! What's the big idea, huh? ! Why'd you stop?"

'Right on cue there, Luke...' "We're here."

Luke looked around, confused. "Here? What do you mean here? There isn't anything here!"

Clive rolled his eyes. "Watch this." With that, he put his hand out onto the wall, feeling it up, trying to find what he was looking for.

Luke was tapping his foot behind him impatiently, but his mouth fell agape when a "Aha!" came from Clive, the wall sliding back and to the side, revealing a passage that lead a little deeper down. Luke stared at the hidden passageway in awe, but quickly shook himself and took off after Clive, who'd started to leave him behind.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Clive turned and sighed in aggravation, but waited anyway. When Luke got to his side, the hidden door slid back into place, leaving them with no way to go but forward. Clive lead the way, Luke following behind him warily. The hallway was long and dimly lit, lights connecting to the walls giving off just enough illumination to help light the way. Soon, they come across a door, a puzzle built into it.

Luke groaned. He remembered these kinds of puzzles. They were the ones where you had to move a ball from one side onto the other while moving around different blocks to make the path for the ball. They were quite annoying and time consuming. But, Clive stepped forward, a smirk on his face.

"Watch, Luke. Because this is the only way you'll be able to get into the base is by doing this puzzle."

Luke raised an eyebrow. He knew how to do puzzles, so why was Clive telling him how to...oh...

Clive had reached his hand out and had pulled the ball from the puzzle out of its base, the metal, blue ball now in his hand. Then, walking back over to the other side of the door, he put the ball into a hole that dropped out onto the other side of the door. Moments after the ball went in, the door slide open, revealing a small, rectangular room.

Luke's eyes widened. It was a trick. They didn't have to do the slide puzzle at all! It was all a ruse to trick whoever saw it and didn't know any better. Though, now that he took a closer look at the slide puzzle, he realized that there was no way to be able to slide the panels enough to get the ball to its 'home' on the other side, no matter which way you did it.

Luke chuckled. It was actually a pretty clever scheme. It almost seemed like something the Black Ravens would come up with. Though, now that he thought about it, they probably had been the ones to think it up.

The thought made Luke smile. He was looking forward to seeing them again. In fact, he was looking forward to seeing everybody. So, when Clive motioned for Luke to enter inside, he happily obliged. Clive stepped in behind him and pushed a button, the door closing in front of them. Another button press and the room shot downwards.

It was a hidden elevator. Luke wondered...did it lead to where he thought it did? Well, there was only one way to find out. When the elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened, Luke rushed out, eager to see his new home.

Luke looked around himself in complete awe, taking in everything that he could. It was the underground, fake London that Clive had built, risen from the ashes, except it looked more like London before Layton had taken control. The fake Thames was still there, people sitting by the river and relaxing. Whole families walked past, a few of them a little wary of the new arrival to their sanctuary.

Everywhere he looked, he could see people talking, training, laughing, playing, and staring. Yep, people were staring as him and Clive walked out of the elevator, curiosity getting the best of them. But, Luke wasn't paying attention to the people staring at him, he was too busy taking in the surroundings. It was beautiful down here, the wreckage from when Clive's machine exploded nowhere in sight. There were trees and flowers growing everywhere. It made Luke visibly relax.

Luke had to wonder though. Where was everyone that he knew? Were they here? Luke tried to see if there was anyone that he recognized, but, everywhere he looked, all he saw were faces that were unknown to him.

Just when he began to wonder if there would be anyone he knew, he heard his name being called out, followed by footsteps. Luke turned to his left and saw the familiar faces of Wren, Socket, Marilyn, Nabby, Louis, Scraps, and Tweeds running up to him. Before he could even think to brace for impact, they all jumped at him, pulling him into a hug.

Clive was laughing hysterically as Luke struggled to get out of the Black Ravens grasps. They'd been anticipating his return the most, having known him longer than anyone else. He finally decided to walk up to the hugging dog pile, breaking up the 'welcome' party and pulling Luke to his feet. He looked a little dizzy, which only caused Clive to laugh again.

"Luke, we're so glad you're okay!" Marilyn cried excitedly.

"We were wondering if you were going to make it or not." Louis said, stepping up and patting Luke on the shoulder. "We were all worried about you."

"Well, hey! Let's celebrate tonight!" Socket yelled out happily, pumping his fist in the air, Wren nodding in agreement.

"To welcome home a friend who was held too long in the darkness." She smiled.

"I'll bring the candy!" Tweeds exclaimed, Nabby rolling his eyes.

"Is that seriously all you can think about, Tweeds?" He asked huffily.

Scraps stood, deep in thought. "We should probably go find a place to hold it at."

Before Luke could even get a word in, the members of the Black Ravens left, leaving him dumbfounded. He was silent for a few moments before he turned to Clive. "Wha...what the heck just happened?"

Clive just laughed again, grabbing Luke by the hand and leading him down a street. "They've been waiting a long time for you to get here. Everyone has."

Luke frowned. "You know, after being held under Layton's control for so long, I was sure that everyone would hate me." He turned his gaze to the ground, kicking a pebble down the street as he walked.

Clive stopped though, turning to the side and putting a hand on Luke's shoulder, making him turn his attention to him. "Luke, listen to me. Whatever happened before is in the past. None of what happened to you was your fault. There is not a single person here who holds anything against you. Do you understand?"

Luke nodded, even though he still looked upset. Clive just patted him on the head and stood up, leading the way forward.

"Cheer up, Luke. Everything will be fine. At least, for now."

Luke smiled softly before following after the young man. "So...where are we heading, Big Luke?"

Clive's eyes widened before he chuckled, taking Luke by the hand again. "We're going to see Katia. She's been getting you and Flora's rooms ready, as well as getting you two some new clothes."

Luke looked down at himself. It was a good thing he was getting new clothes. The clothes we was wearing didn't look like him at all. A black cape was draped over a red and white dress shirt, a black bow tie with a red jewel in the middle of it was around his neck. His blue newsboy cap had been traded in for a black one with red lining. Black shorts with red suspender straps, gray socks, and black shoes. Add them being bloody and torn from trying to escape...all in all, Luke was ready for some new clothes. For him, new clothes meant a new start.

Clive turned and pulled him into a tall, three-story building, rooms lining the walls with names on each door. Some of the names he knew, some he didn't. Clive stopped in front of one door, the name Katia Anderson on the nameplate at the top. He knocked a few times.

"Who is it?" A soft voice from the inside calling out.

"It's me, Katia. May I come in?" Clive answered back.

"Heh. Someone didn't say the magic wo-o-ord!" A soft laugh came from inside as Clive groaned.

"Haha. Very funny, Katia. Now, can I please come in?" He asked, embarrassed.

"Oh...I don't know. Can you?" Luke and Clive could both hear the giggly sarcasm in her voice. Clive sighed.

"Katia, my darling, May I please come in?" He asked.

Luke raised an eyebrow. 'Darling?' he wondered.

"Yeah, sure. Just a minute." Katia answered in between giggles. A few seconds later, a click came from inside before the door opened, revealing Katia. Clive leaned forward and pulled her into a kiss, a deep one. Luke would have to ask Clive about his relationship with her later. Right now though, he was taking in her new look.

Luke was a bit surprised, to say the least. She looked so different from the last time he'd saw her that he could've almost swore it was a different person. Her purple hair was done up in an up-do, with her bangs hanging down and a little bit of excess hair framing her face. Around her neck was a pale pink scarf that flowed behind her when she moved, almost acting as a cape instead of a scarf. She was wearing a forest green tunic/dress...thing, with a black belt around her waist, a sword hanging loosely from the belt. The middle of the belt had a golden puzzle piece attached to it, almost like a buckle. White shorts with a green trim on them were adorning her legs and knee-high forest green boots with gold trim were on her feet. The one thing that was truly the same about her was the pearl necklace she had around her neck. If Luke remembered correctly, that necklace had been given to Katia by her late grandmother, Sophia.

The two finally broke from their kiss, panting a little bit. For awhile, they just looked into each other's eyes, both of them lost in them and to their thoughts.

Katia had been worried sick about Clive ever since the night before, when he said he would return. She'd told him to be careful, but, when Lando had come back for a few minutes without him, it'd scared her.

Since the invasion of her home in Dropstone, her and Clive had gotten closer and closer. It'd been almost love at first sight. He wasn't truly the gentleman he'd made himself out to be that fateful night, but he sure hadn't let her down yet. She loved him dearly and if anything happened to him, she didn't know what she would do.

Of course, being a part of the resistance made their relationship a lot more difficult, but they still managed to pull through...somehow. But, deep down inside of her, Katia had a feeling. A feeling that...something would push their relationship to the limit, something that would require them to trust each other to the fullest or face the direst of consequences. Call it a woman's intuition or whatever you like. But, whatever it was, it worried Katia all the more.

Clive was glad to be home. Katia was his home. Wherever Katia was, he was home. He felt at home in her arms. Feeling like he was home, where he belonged, it was something he'd yearned for for years.

When he'd lost his parents in that explosion twelve, almost thirteen years ago...that was when he'd started losing himself. His sense of home. His sense of friendship with others. His sense of sanity. After being pulled down from his insanity, he'd sworn to get his life back on track, to start over again. Katia had helped him through that, more than she knew. Just as long as she was there with him, he was okay.

He loved her...so much. He understood why Lando reacted the way he did when he lost Sharon. If it ever happened to him and Katia, he'd probably react the same way. But, if fate allowed, he wouldn't lose her...to anyone or anything. He'd protect her. Even if he hadn't been able to protect his parents, he would certainly protect Katia. No matter the costs.

Luke just stayed back, letting them have their moment together. As he watched though, his thoughts went to Flora. Was she okay? Had Layton gained control of her again? Or had she been able to escape after all? So many questions and, unknown to him, all of which would be answered soon.

He wanted Flora in his arms, safe. Luke had loved her for a long time, ever since he first saw her, he'd loved her. Of course, with them both living under the same roof for a long time, Luke couldn't exactly tell her without it becoming awkward between them. Though, now...he guessed age didn't really matter now.

So, when the mind control had wore off and they were both able to go about with their own free will, Luke had told her. And, apparently, she'd felt the same way. That just made Luke feel all the more worse though. So soon after they revealed their feelings and...now...they were so far apart. One safe and one not. But, Luke had told her he'd save her and he planned on doing just that. But, first...

"Ahem." Luke cleared his throat, breaking the two teens from their eye gazing, Katia's attention finally being put on him. She smiled broadly as she left Clive's arms and pulled Luke into a hug. She must've not noticed Luke there until right then.

"Luke. I'm so overjoyed that both you and Clive made it back safely." She said. She looked down at his face, smiling before she started to pull him away. "Come on, let me show you to your room. There, we'll get you some new clothes!"

Clive followed leisurely behind the two as they went, Katia's mouth almost going non-stop as she told Luke about different things about the Resistance he would need to know. Clive just chuckled. It wasn't very often that his girlfriend got like this, but, when she did, it would take him kissing her to make her stop. If he didn't or he wasn't around, she'd go on for hours.

Luke looked back to him, silently pleading for help as she continued to ramble on about his new room, new clothes, and how he was going to love it here. 'Help me, Clive! She won't shut up.' He'd been walking with Katia for only five minutes and, already, this trait of hers was starting to drive him crazy. Clive only shrugged his shoulders, grinning, much to Luke's chagrin.

It wasn't until they arrived at a room on the third floor that said Luke Triton at the top that Katia finally stopped rambling. Katia opened the door, leading the way in and twirling around in the middle of the room. "Well, here it is!"

Luke stepped in and looked around in satisfaction. The room was a fairly good size, a twin sized bed in the corner, a window looking out over the fake London. A bookshelf sat across from the bed and there was a chair and nightstand next to it with a lamp on it. A side door led to a personal bathroom, which had a shower, toilet, and sink, a blue hair brush, tooth brush, and soap container left on the counter for him.

There was also a dresser, which Katia strolled over, motioning for Luke to come over to her, which he did. Katia swiped his black hat off before pulling something out of the open, top drawer. A blue hat, the same exact shade that he used to wear. Luke smiled as tears came to his eyes.

"Tha...thank you...Katia..." Luke sniffled.

Katia smiled, patting his head. "Thank Clive. He's the one that found it. He searched everywhere for it. He had finally managed to find it out at the London dump while looking for supplies for our technology. We've kept it safe ever since, hoping you'd be able to wear it again one day."

Luke turned to the doorway, where Clive stood, leaning against the doorframe. "Thank you, Clive. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Clive flashed him a smile, standing straight. "Think nothing of it. We're just glad you're safe and sound." He motioned for Katia to follow him. "Luke, we're going to go downstairs and discuss a few things while you get changed, okay? Then we'll take you to meet everyone else."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Everyone? As in, everyone everyone?"

Katia laughed, shaking her head. "No, silly."

"Everyone, as in the other members of the Resistance." Clive chuckled out. "We'll see you downstairs."

Luke nodded as the two of them left, leaving him alone. He turned to the dresser, opening up the different drawers. "Now, let's see what we've got in here."

About thirty or so minutes later, Luke came out of his room, dressed, clean, and basically ready to go. He'd taken a desperately needed shower, brushed through his hair and teeth and then chosen himself a new outfit.

He was dressed in his usual light blue hat, a light blue capelet was draped around his shoulders, a dark, dark green waistcoat with a light gray undershirt lying partially hidden underneath and a light blue tie underneath the collar of his dress-shirt. Brown slacks and gray-brown shoes finished off his new look.

Luke looked at himself in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. He looked older, more...mature in this. It looked partially like Clive's usual clothes, but was different enough to make it easier to tell them apart. He liked it a lot.

Grabbing the key that had been left on his dresser, with a note from Katia, saying it was the key to his room, he left, making sure to lock the door behind him before stashing the key in his pocket. He traveled down the few flights of stairs to the lobby only to see that Katia and Clive weren't there.

He heard a commotion outside and ran out the double doors, seeing a large group of people gathered around a few people in black. 'The Black Ravens!' Luke thought excitedly. That meant that Crow and Badger were back! He pushed his way through the crowd, apologizing all the way through.

When he got to the middle, he could see Clive, Katia, the three disguised Black Ravens, and one other person that Luke recognized. "Henry!" He shouted as he ran up to them.

The six people turned to the young teen, Clive smiling as Katia squealed with glee.

"Oh my goodness, Luke! You look so adorable in your new clothes!"

Luke blushed at this, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment as Katia kept ogling over him. "Er...uh...thanks, Katia..."

Behind Katia, the three Black Ravens took off their masks and lowered their hoods, revealing shocked looks on the three members of the Resistance underneath.

"L-Luke? !" Crow questioned unsurely.

Luke smiled and waved before he walked up to them. "Hey, guys. Miss me?" Luke laughed at the expressions on their faces. They were shocked. They had thought that, since Flora had been captured, that Luke had been as well.

"Y-yeah! We were worried..." Badger said quietly.

Luke smirked at them, his hands on his hips. "No need to worry about me, Badger." He winked. "I can take care of myself."

"Oh, can you now?" Clive asked him, coming up from behind Luke, leaning against Luke's head. "Because, last I checked, I was the one who had to save you when Layton was about to kill you."

"Y-yeah...well..." Luke stammered nervously. That was when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, guys...what were you doing out there anyhow? Were you on a reconnaissance mission or something?"

The three of them exchanged nervous glances before Lando sighed, running his hand through his messy red hair. He winced though when his hand touched his bruise. "We should probably go talk somewhere where there aren't as many people around."

Crow nodded solemnly. "Yes. We have some news for you all. And you're not going to like it."

"What do you mean Layton already has Flora under his control again? !" Clive cried angrily. He turned to Lando, who was sitting on a couch to the right of him. "It was your job to get her back, Lando! Why didn't you stop them? !"

They'd retired to a building which served as a place for the 'locals' to hang out at. They were all seated and none of them were very happy at the moment, though most of them were keeping their own thoughts to themselves. Crow was holding his head in his hands, Badger was trying to take deep breathes to help calm himself down, Henry and Katia were both watching the arguing that was happening before them, and Luke was trying to keep his tears from falling, but was failing miserably.

Lando kept his gaze to the floor as he answered. He was holding an ice pack to his face, the swelling from his bruise starting to go down a little. "I tried, Clive. I truly did. But Emmy attacked me before I could get to her and, by the time Crow, Badger, and I made it to where the Pagoda was, we were too late...I'm sorry."

Clive felt like he was about to pop a blood vessel, he was so furious. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Luke crying silently. It pained Clive to see him like this. Clive saw Luke as his little brother and, whenever Luke was upset, it would make Clive upset too. And this moment was no different.

"Sorry isn't good enough, Lando! She's under Layton's control now and it's all your fault!" Clive yelled.

Lando stood up, anger starting to rise up in him too. "Well, what do you expect me to do about it, Clive? ! We can't bring her back here when the serum is inside of her! It would jeopardize the safety of all the refugees here!" Lando's voice lowered dangerously. "You know as well as I do how disastrous that would be. Of course, then again, with what you did to London before, I wouldn't be too surprised if you didn't care."

Clive's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that, Lando?"

"I mean that you just might be crazy enough to actually do something like that!"

Clive jumped to his feet, his hands clenched into fists. "I'm not crazy!"

Finally, Katia couldn't take anymore of it. She grabbed a hold of Clive's arm just as he was about to swing it at Lando. "Clive, stop! Just...stop. You're both on the same side! You don't need to be fighting each other! It isn't worth it!"

Over by Lando, Henry was doing the same, holding Lando back as he struggled to get to Clive. The two of them had been about ready to rip each others throats out. "That's enough, Lando! Just...just..."

"Stop!" Henry and Katia shouted at the same time. The three younger members present were watching in shock. It rarely happened when tension started to rise up 'in the ranks' and it just surprised them to see two of their strongest members resort to fighting like children.

Clive and Lando had stopped struggling, but were both glaring intensely at the other.

"Okay, now you both need to say you're sorry." Katia said once they were starting to calm down quite a bit.

"Me? ! Apologize to him? ! He should be the one apologizing to me!" Clive and Lando both shouted at the same time, pointing at each other accusingly.

Crow stood up after they said this. "Alright, that's it. You two really need to stop. Arguing won't get us anywhere."

Luke nodded before he finally stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "He's right, you two. We all just need to...stay calm." That last part was almost more of him saying it to himself than to the others, but it still helped to do the trick, calming Lando and Clive enough so that Katia and Henry could let them go without them killing each other. "I'm sure we'll think of something." Luke frowned though. "I just wish I hadn't lost my satchel when Flora and I were escaping, then...maybe..."

Badger perked up at this. "You mean, this satchel?" He held up a brown bag, a small emblem on it with a newsboy cap and an L built in.

Luke's eyes widened, as well as just about everyone elses. Crow stepped up to Badger. "Badger, where did you find that?"

Badger chuckled nervously, his shaggy hair starting to soak with a bit of sweat. "Well, I guess you could say that I kind of ran into it as we were leaving the gate to the Pagoda. Literally...might I add. I didn't see it and it caused me to faceplant into the concrete." Badger rubbed his forehead beneath his hair. "It was...pretty painful..."

"Well, can I see it? !" Luke asked excitedly, which Badger happily obliged. He started rummaging through the main pocket of it, the front pocket being ignored for the time being. "If my journal is still in here...then we should be able to get into Layton's base unharmed."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Luke looked up and smirked before rummaging through it a bit more. "You guys obviously didn't watch Flora and I long enough to know that I'd broken from the mind control a bit earlier than you realize. I worked on finding out as much as I could before I left. I made a few detailed maps of the base, which are all in my journal...which is...AHA!" Luke cried out as he pulled a brown journal, the same symbol from the satchel on the front of the book, only about six times bigger.

"Here it is. Inside of it is everything that I could find about the Towering Pagoda and Layton and his men." Luke said, handing the journal over to Clive, who, in turn, flipped through the pages, stopping on a specific page.

Clive chuckled a little bit before reading aloud. "Oh, how my heart yearns for you, my dear Flora! Your hair is as soft and breezy as the wind on my face, your eyes so full of life and vigor, oh, how I wish you were mine, my sweet and beautiful flower!" By now, Clive had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard, whereas Luke's face was tomato red.

"No, Clive! Stop! Not there! Don't read anymore!" Luke cried out embarrassingly, trying to grab the book out of the ex-convict's hands, who was holding it over his head and laughing.

Lando just watched this with a feeling of remorse inside of him. He remembered when him and Hershel had been like that, as close as brothers. He missed those high school days of his, the ones where Hershel was his best friend, when Sharon was always there for him. He missed beating Hershel at fencing and trying to convince him that Archaeology was the best thing in the world. But those days were just a distant memory now, a memory of a time long forgotten by the hands of fate.

The red head could feel a tear start to go down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away. The tear didn't go unnoticed though and everyone had stopped what they had been doing and were watching him now. He waved them off.

"I'm fine. Really. I'm fine." He whispered, heading towards the door, leaving the others confused behind him. "I'm going to go to my room for a bit. I'll...see you all later." With that, he walked out the door.

Everyone looked on, not entirely sure what had happened. Finally though, Henry made a move towards the door. "I'll talk to him. I'll make sure he gets to the meeting later, okay?"

Katia nodded numbly as Henry chased after Lando, worry etched across her face. She hoped they would be alright.

Clive had stopped with his antics while this happened, giving Luke the chance to grab his journal out of his hands, stuffing it back into his satchel, sighing in relief with the knowledge that his private writings would be safe...for now.

As he flipped the flap of the satchel back over, a small, brown...thing fell out, clattering softly onto the floor. Luke raised an eyebrow as he bent over, picking the small device up into his hands. "Huh? What's this?"

This broke everyone of their confusion, their attention turning to what Luke was holding. Clive reached out carefully and took it, looking it over carefully. "I...I'm not sure what this is..."

"Maybe you should have Paul look over it, Clive." Katia mentioned.

Clive nodded, stuffing the small device into his jacket pocket. "That's a good idea. I'll go do that." He turned to Katia, offering her his arm. "Would you like to accompany me, Katia?"

Katia giggled, kissing him on the cheek. "I would love to, my good sir."

Clive smiled, a small blush on his cheeks as he and Katia headed towards the door. "We'll see you all soon." He turned his head to Crow before going out. "Crow, why don't you help Luke choose a weapon to use? He's going to need something to protect himself with."

Crow nodded, putting his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Alright." He motioned for Badger and Luke to follow him. "Come on. Let's go see what we can find."

Luke followed after him, Badger taking a moment to grab the Black Ravens disguises and fold them, carrying them in his arms and chasing after the two.

"Wait up, you guys!" He yelled.

Clive: I was wondering if you were going to show what was going on with Flora.

RML: Yeah. Apparently, so were some of the readers. Which was why I added that part in. I was originally going to have that part of the chapter be in the next chapter, towards the end. But, because of people asking about Flora, I decided to put that part in this one. So, now you know what's up with her.

Lando: *is holding ice pack to face* Did you have to have Emmy face-plant me into a wall? !

RML: *rolls eyes* I had to have some way of making it so you couldn't get Flora! What else could I have done?

Lando: *pretends to think about it* Oh...I don't know...just about anything else!

Crow: *walks in, soda in hand* Now, now, you two. Let's not argue.

Lando: *points accusingly* But she...

Crow: *glares at Lando* Are you an adult or not, Lando? Act your age. Please.

Lando: *sighs in defeat* Fine...

Crow: Anyway, Tweeds, Scraps, and Nabby were wondering if they could go have some ice cream from the Ice Cream truck down the street.

RML: *shrugs* I don't see why not. Here. *hands over a few dollars* That should be enough. Just tell them they owe me though, alright?

Crow: Yeah, sure thing. *smiles* I'll be back in a few minutes.

Clive: That's fine. We'll be here. *grumbles* How come they can get ice cream, but I can't?

RML: *overhears* Do you want to go get an ice cream too?

Clive: *jumps up excitedly* Boy, would I! :D

RML: *hands over a five-dollar bill* Don't go overboard. The only reason I've giving you a five is because I want you to get me one too.

Lando: And me!

RML: Oh, hold on a sec. CROW!

Crow: *comes back through door* You know, you don't need to shout. I was just coming back.

RML: *waves that off* Yeah, yeah. Do you want some ice cream?

Crow: Hmm...Well, I wouldn't mind having an ice cream sandwich...

RML: Alright then! Clive! You're on ice cream duty! Get Crow his ice cream sandwich, get me a Butterfinger bar and...Lando, what would you like?

Lando: I'd like a shaved ice myself.

RML: And get Lando a shaved ice! Now, hurry! I don't know if the ice cream man will stay much longer!

Clive: *rolls eyes* Yeah, yeah. I'll be back. *grumbles again* Why do I get ice cream duty? Lazy people...*leaves*

Crow: *turns to RML* So...just what was that device that was in Luke's satchel, anyway?

RML: *smirks* I'm not telling. You'll just have to find out next chapter!

Lando: Wait...what are you two talking about? What device?

Crow: *shrugs* There was a device stuck to the inside of Luke's satchel. We found it after you left. BTW, are you alright?

Lando: *nods* Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed some time alone.

Crow: *nods in understanding* I see.

RML: ...So...disclaimer...Lando! You do it! I'm too tired to! *shoves disclaimer note in Lando's face*

Lando: Uh...okay. RML doesn't own Professor Layton or any characters from said series. She only owns the story ideas and her writing...and herself. Yep, that's it.

Crow: Oh, and, people. Please review. I can't stress this enough. RML gets very excited whenever she sees reviews, but she gets very scary when not very many come in. So, please. I beg of you, review!

RML: Oh, and, before I forget! Luke's new outfit design isn't mine! It belongs to SparksyChan on Deviantart. You can see the pic here: shadow- and- me- foreve. deviant art favourites/ ?offset=24# /d4l4mxo

Lando: Just take out the spaces. Katia's new design though does belong to her, so...yeah. That's it then.

CHAPTER THEME/Clive and Katia's Theme: Utopia by Within Temptation

Flora's Theme: Frozen by Within Temptation