THIS is why man shouldn't fuck around with time. CRAZY BULLSHIT HAPPENS!

Professor Layton was very out of character in this story, and it seems to me that this is due to a great underestimation his strength of character and moral resolve. Some examples: He is too mature an individual to jump to the conclusion that his girlfriend is jealous of his success, and then just break up with her without even finding out for sure if that was true by discussing it. He loves Claire. Really loves her. Even if she HAD been jealous, he would've likely given her a chance to apologize for acting immaturely, and then forgiven her. And were he to break up with her over anything, he would be the perfect gentleman about it. In the games he treats perfect strangers with more respect than he treated Claire in that breakup scene. He is also not one to be caught up in wealth and fame, as is evident from 'The Curious Village' wherein he left a mountain of gold just laying there, and gave up a chance to get in the papers - all out of consideration for people he barely knew.

After Claire rejected Dimitri's offer to become the test subject for the time-travel experiment you wrote: "The explosion would never happen; it would never have the chance to destroy so many lives." Why? All she did was ensure that 'she' wasn't the one chosen. That doesn't fix the machine, so why did that change things? Perhaps you meant to say that it would be difficult for them to get someone else, and so by the time the experiment happened the issues with the machine would be resolved? If so some clarification would've been nice, especially because I believe Claire wouldn't have just 'not been' the test subject for the time-travel experiment, so that they could pick some other poor person. She would've seen to it that the experiment didn't hurt ANYONE.

I don't understand why Claire allowed Layton to be the test subject. All she would've had to have done was told Layton she didn't want him to risk his safety for material gain, and he would've likely respected her wishes. A gentleman always complies with the reasonable request of a lady, after all. You'd think he'd do at least that much for his own girlfriend.

I liked it when Claire happened upon Luke and gave him a place to stay. Her interactions with him were nice to read, and I also liked your idea that the 'thoughts' of the traveler could alter their time-traveling course. You have good grammar and spelling, and can obviously keep a reader's attention. I hope you wont take any of this negatively, as it is meant to be constructive criticism that encourages to more carefully consider the personalities of the characters you write about. Thank you for the story.

Sorry, when it comes to reviews, I am completely and brutally honest. Don't hate this...

THAT WAS AMAZING! Your writing is exceptional, never stop.
— A dedicated author.

Aww, that's so sweet! And Professor! A child out of wedlock, not very gentlemanly. All in all a nice little story. The hopping back and forth through time was a little dizzying, but I like the repercussions you devised. Even if I doubt our esteemed Professor would change so drastically I still appreciate the changes you affected. Well done all around! KTN

I really liked this fic. It helped define Claire and show how everything could've been. It's also kinda sad because it will never be reality.

Heh, it's actually been 3 1/2 years since you wrote this. Not 2.

I haven't played Professor Layton in years, but something made me remember it a few hours ago and I suddenly felt like I had to read a Hershel/Claire story. I'm not going to bother with any constructive criticism considering you wrote this 2 years ago, and you're probably not going to see this for the same reason, but I really enjoyed reading your story. Claire's desparate hopes leading to her being sent back in time a bit earlier and her thoughts on her being a hypocrite were especially interesting plot points, and I'm glad you managed to give this story a happy ending.

I would have liked the epilogue to have been longer; it gave the impression it was rushed. Still, great story!

Soo cute! I started to get angsty (me and angst don't mix well) when all of a sudden I get this happy ending! Wonderful! I really enjoyed reading it :D

Well I may not totally put this in the cannon, I NEEDED a happy-ending when I found out about the sad ending not 3 days agos :P

This made me feel A LOT better! I can laugh now! Thank you sooo much!

Awwwww, this is such a cute ending, I'm a sucker for happy endings :,D

This is what should have happened. :)

This is... BEAUTIFUL!

Why couldn't the Lost Future end this way?

:( Stupid Bill Hawks and his time machine!

Awwwwww sweet ending! You write great stories :D

~Heidi

Oh my Oz that was soo sad... I thought there was no way the mess could have gotten better, but it did! :D

~Heidi