First of all, I have to admit that I am not a native speaker, so there might be a few mistakes, but if you were so kind as to write me a message to tell me of them, I would immediately correct them.

Disclaimer: All figures belong to Nintendo/Level 5 and I don't earn my money with these stories.

My Hero

I was running through a forest. It was dark, only the moon spent sometimes a bit of light. The Shades were right behind me, trying to catch me or worse to kill me.

The fire of the witch trial didn't even hurt me. I fell on the floor and was suddenly in this forest, which seemed to be directly next to the town. I explored a while my surroundings trying to find a way back, when all of a sudden these dark figures appeared – the Shades.

"What do you want from me?" I asked afraid.

But instead of answering they just came nearer and nearer.

"I'm not a witch!" I shouted but this doesn't seem to interest the Shades a bit.

When they were only a few feet away from me, I turned around and started running into the forest.

I ran and ran but the Shades were still close behind me…

Suddenly I tripped over a root and fell onto the floor. Anxiously I saw how the Shades approached me and then threw their weapons at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the sharp objects to hurt me – but nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes again – and there he was: my hero.

Professor Layton was standing between the Shades and me, a stick in his hands which he used like a sword. "I'm afraid I have to intervene," he told the Shades. "You see, protecting a young lady in distress, is the duty of every gentleman." He turned to me and smiled mischievously.

"Huuh… Professor!" I exclaimed relieved.

He faced the Shades again and fought them and thereby rescued me.

That was the moment I fell in love with him…

We were back in London, – Mr Barnham was so kind as to bring us there with his boat – Luke and the professor showed Nick and me all around and we spent very lovely days together.

I didn't try to get the professor's attention (although I felt that this was more than a little crush) because I knew that he wouldn't love me back. We were just too different and lived too far away, not to mention the age gap… But I tried not to think so much about my hopeless situation but instead tried to get as much great memories of him as possible.

Though I tried hard to make our stay in London as long as possible, one day we had to leave and fly back home.

Professor Layton and Luke came with us to the airport to say goodbye.

I waited for the right moment to say something special to the professor and when Luke and Nick were buying something to eat for us, the moment was there.

"Professor," I said with a loud pounding heart.

"Yes, Maya," he smiled.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done."

"That was nothing," he answered modestly.

"You rescued me," I insisted.

He smiled again.

"I admire your intelligence," I quickly added before I could re-think my decision.

Now he chuckled. "And I, my dear," he replied seriously, "admire your courage."

I stared at him. "What courage?"

"You tried to rescue Espella, for instance, and by doing so almost died."

I smiled at the compliment and we looked each other deeply in the eyes. But before we could say anything else Nick and Luke returned and handed out the food.

Then it was really time to say goodbye.

"Professor Layton," Nick said, "thank you for all you have done. And you Luke, of course, too."

They shook hands and Nick vanished through the door to the airplane.

"Goodbye, Luke," I said and hugged the little guy.

"Bye, Maya," he replied warmly. "We'll see each other soon, won't we?"

"Of course," I answered although I had no idea. But I hoped it as well.

Then Luke ran to a window nearby to watch the airplanes.

I looked at the professor and suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Farewell, my dear," he said with a weak smile. "Get home safely."

I nodded, tried to say something and failed. I saw him in the eyes and then instead on saying something I gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

When he turned red and looked at me dazzled I chuckled. "Farewell, professor," I managed to say, smiled one last smile, turned and quickly went into the plane, where I sat down next to Nick.

"I'll miss them," he said and looked out of the window.

I just nodded.

Only when the airplane had started and we were flying farer and farer away from London I allowed myself to cry silently…

THE END.