Author's Notes

Setting: This fic features a "for want of a nail" alternate timeline scenario based on the future London shown in the Lost/Unwound Future, where one tiny change can result in a vastly different future. Unlike a lot of Evil!Layton AUs, the main characters are actually from the original unchanged timeline, and are transported from their own timeline to the alternate one. The mystery that follows involves Layton going head to head with his alternate self, all while trying to conquer the demons of his own past, eventually leading him to discover why he and the others were sent to the alternate future in the first place.

Continuity: For the purposes of this fic, a year passes between each game of the original trilogy. It is based on the UK versions; if there are differences from the NA versions I'll point these out in the respective chapters. I planned the plot outline before playing Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask, and Azran Legacy, so there are some inconsistencies with the canon from those games, particularly Azran Legacy. As a consequence, there are no spoilers from those three games.

However, this does follow canon as depicted in Curious Village, Pandora's Box, Lost Future and the movie Eternal Diva, and subsequently there are major ending spoilers from those four entries in the series.

Rating: Rated T for torture, violence, murder/death and occasional bad language.

Pairings: Gen Fic so the focus is on the adventure itself rather than romance. Having said that the main pairing is Hershel/Claire, mainly because as mentioned above I'm following the events of 1st trilogy canon (despite the existence of the alternate timeline). There is also one-sided Dimitri/Claire and Clive & Flora friendship.

And I think that's everything. Off we go!

Lost

Chapter 1: The Pivotal Moment

It began with a handwritten letter. It always did.

If there was one thing Luke Triton was used to, it was seeing letters addressed to the professor. It had been a year since he had travelled to Folsense with Professor Layton for the Elysian Box case, and during that year Layton had become more and more famous, better known in London for his ability to solve the most complicated mystery than for his actual job as professor of archaeology. And, as Layton's prominence steadily increased, so did the number of letters coming in through the post, so much so that occasionally the letters turned out to be fake.

Luke found that the contents of this particular letter were no different, really, but the sender had scored full points in originality for sending the letter via carrion crow rather than a traditional postie. This was why Luke had received the letter well before Layton did; initially he had thought that the letter was intended for him. His name did appear in the letter, but it was in the place he least expected to see it.

Dear Professor Layton, it read.

It's been a long time. I hope this letter reaches you in good health. You may find what I am about to say quite far-fetched, and I would not expect you to believe me right away, but it is the truth. I am writing to you from 10 years in the future, and the London of my time desperately needs your help.

Please come to the Big Cat enclosure inside London Zoo at 11 o' clock A.M. this Saturday. I will explain everything there. I look forward to seeing you.

Your student and friend,

Luke Triton

According to this, Luke was the sender.

It made no sense. He knew that he hadn't written this. There was no way the professor would fall for a prank so obvious.

The next thought that sprung to Luke's mind was Layton's archenemy, Don Paolo. Perhaps he wanted to lure Layton into a trap? But, it wasn't really his style... As a master of disguise, Don Paolo was usually far more subtle. Besides, Layton had only just foiled his latest scheme, which involved the theft of Big Ben. It was far too soon for Don Paolo to be up to no good. He may have been a genius engineer, and always quick to try to outdo his nemesis Layton, but even he wasn't that fast. He would have needed some time to work on whatever it was he would be planning next.

So the question was: why would someone pretend to be Luke and then send a letter to the real Luke, knowing that the real Luke - and Layton - would instantly know it to be fake?

He took a closer look at the envelope, twisting it round. No return address, but the postmark was dated ten years in the future? How could that be possible? And what was so special about the zoo?

Luke decided that in this case the letter itself was the mystery, and was worthy of the professor's attention, at least for now. He folded the envelope and left the study, travelling through the corridors of Gressenheller University, finally locating Layton inside one of the classrooms.

Layton's lecture about Roman artefacts and how to interpret them had finished five minutes ago, and there were ancient coins and pottery dotted around the desk, but he seemed more interested in a rather glitzy, if small piece of paper in his hand.

"Hmm..." he said.

It was the kind of Hmm that Luke automatically associated with puzzle-solving, and he fought to keep down his sense of excitement. He was very glad for the day off school due to the teachers' training day, because he could feel an adventure brewing.

"Hey, Professor. What's that?"

"Oh, Luke," said Layton, looking up. "They're... invitations to a gala presentation, my boy. Someone just brought it into me. Now, Luke." Layton lowered his voice, as if about to tell a big secret. "We must keep this between ourselves." Luke nodded. "In three weeks time, there will be a grand unveiling: the world's very first time machine."

"What?" exclaimed Luke, who hushed himself when Layton reminded him to keep his voice down. "Did you say time machine? As in, a real, working time machine?"

"That's what Doctor Stahngun would have you believe," said Layton, with a smile that Luke had come to interpret as: I'll believe it when I see it.

"But... Professor..." Luke took another look at the envelope. Was there a chance that the letter was actually real?

"What's wrong, Luke?"

"I think you'd better take a look at this letter..."

And that was how, on a bright, sunny Saturday morning, Layton and Luke found themselves riding the 274 bus towards the zoo at Regent's Park, if only to see who this mysterious person was. If the aim of the letter had been to get their attention, then it had certainly succeeded. It probably was nothing more than a silly trick by someone with too much time on their hands, but even if the sender's identity was fake, experience had taught both Layton and Luke that there was often more to these things than met the eye. The timing of both the letter and the invitation was just a little too coincidental.

The bus chugged along through the streets of London, soon reaching the greenery that marked the edge of Regent's Park. At the next bus stop they got off the bus and crossed the road, where the sight of the large white gates to the zoo greeted them. There was a queue to get to the ticket stand, but there didn't seem to be anybody remotely resembling a future version of Luke. They would have to go inside.

Before they could join the queue, however, a female voice called, "There you are!" and Luke's first thought was: Oh, good grief.

Because there, with her orange dress, knee-high boots, and a very cross expression, stood Flora Reinhold.

After the events of St Mystere two years ago, Layton had become Flora's legal guardian. At first, he had been a little unsure of what to do with this new person that had suddenly entered his sphere of life. Adopting a fourteen year old girl as his own hadn't quite been the result he'd been expecting when he'd taken on that particular case. But for her sake he had forced himself to adjust. He had done his best to accommodate her and, in the months that followed, had since become very protective of his new charge.

Subsequently, on every occasion that warranted a good puzzle-solving Layton had tried - and failed - to leave Flora behind at home. The Elysian Box case had been perhaps the best example. Flora had followed both Luke and Layton all the way onto the Molentary Express train out of London towards Folsense, despite them both feeling that she should remain in London where it was safe.

And now at the entrance to London Zoo...

There stood Flora.

"Hello, Flora," said Layton, tipping his hat.

"Wha-?" said Luke, who was generally far more forthcoming about his feelings towards something than Layton was. "How'd you get here before us?"

"I took the train," she said, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. "I'll have you know the London Underground railway is very fast, I don't understand your aversion to it. Perfectly valid form of transport."

"But it's still a bit of a walk here from the station," Luke persisted, genuinely puzzled. He was sure they'd left her at Layton's house. On the other hand, this was a pretty typical Flora thing to do. It was almost a competition, in a way.

"So I took a bus from the station as well!" she said, waving her arms around for emphasis. "Anyway, never mind that!" She wagged an angry finger in the air. "I can't believe you two! How could you leave me behind again?"

"Well, technically you left us behind," grumbled Luke. There was never any questioning on how she always found out where he and the professor went off to. There could be no questioning how she found out. She always just... did. Maybe it was some special kind of intuition, the same way Layton always seemed to know when something was fishy.

"I'm sorry, Flora," said Layton, and he did sound deeply apologetic. "But you know how I feel about you coming along on my investigations. I can't risk you getting hurt."

"But we're at London Zoo, not somewhere remote like Folsense," said Flora. "Who would try anything in front of all these people?"

"Flora, I am very well known throughout London for stopping criminals cold. There are those that might take advantage of your relationship to me..."

"Why would I be any safer staying at home? And how is it any different to you bringing Luke along on your crazy adventures?"

"C'mon, Flora," said Luke, "they're tens time more likely to kidnap you than me. Fact."

"All right, that's enough, Luke," said Layton, before Flora could pop a vein, an artery and perhaps her entire head in a violent explosion of rage. He sighed. "I suppose there's no harm in you coming along as well. This may well turn out to be a wild goose chase, after all."

"Thank you, Professor!" said Flora, finally smiling. "I promise I won't slow you down or be a burden or anything!"

"You're never a burden, Flora," said Layton. "I should be delighted of your company on this fair morning."

Flora beamed at this comment, apparently completely forgetting that she had ever been angry at all. Luke shook his head and sighed, but she was so happy she was practically bouncing all the way to the Big Cat area, and it was hard not to be swayed by her genuine enthusiasm. By the time they reached their destination, Luke was beaming right alongside her.

"So what are we looking for?" she asked as Layton took a moment to glance around.

"Someone who looks like a twenty-two year old version of me," said Luke.

"What?"

"You've gotta keep this hush-hush, all right?" said Luke. "Apparently someone's built a time machine."

Flora clasped her hands together. "Wow, how exciting!"

"Yes, indeed... if it turns out to be true," said Layton, glancing at his watch.

It was eleven A.M.

They waited.

A tiger was sleeping on its side a little way inside the cage. It twitched, but didn't stir.

Layton said, "This reminds me of a puzzle about animals in a zoo," and then proceeded to tell Luke and Flora all about it. Luke and Flora worked together and solved the puzzle.

They waited.

Luke came up with a puzzle about Troomoos and Nowheys, two breeds of cow. Layton left it to Flora solve this one. And she did.

They waited.

A married couple recognised Layton and asked if they could take a photo of the man in the top hat who had saved Big Ben, and he obliged.

They waited.

Finally, at twenty minutes past eleven, Layton said, "I say, Luke, your future self is not especially prompt for someone with time-travelling capabilities."

"Yeah, maybe this one was a dead end, Professor. Still, at least we can make a day trip out of it, eh?"

"Oh, look! Another tiger is coming this way," said Flora.

Indeed, a new tiger was making its way towards the tightly criss-crossed fence. The married couple from earlier began to point and take photos.

This tiger sat down on its haunches, and said: "So they wasn't tellin' me porkies after all!"

"Eh?" said Luke.

"Oh, is he saying something?" said Flora. Neither she nor Layton could speak to animals, and while Layton always politely left Luke to do his thing, today Flora seemed to feel the need to be involved in the conversation somehow, even though she couldn't understand a single growl. Her over-enthusiasm was still in play, it seemed.

"Did he say something about your future self?" she asked. "Or about the time machine?"

"She your bird, mate?" said the tiger.

"What did he say?"

"What did she say?"

"Hold on, hold on!" said Luke, an interpreter caught between having two things to translate at the same time. "One at a time. No, she's not my bird. And keep it down, please, Flora."

"Fine, fine," said Flora, who at last remembered that they weren't supposed to be broadcasting anything to do with the time machine. "I'll just - go over there." She walked a little way away to another part of the cage.

"Who's telling porkies?" Luke said in the Animal language, trying not to draw too much attention. He was pleased to see that Layton had struck up a conversation with the other two people a bit further away, in a cunning ploy to distract them. He didn't really like the idea of strangers knowing about his odd talent.

"The crows," said the tiger. "About you an' Top Hat. Them carrion crows just told me you was both in the zoo. Didn't expect to see ya, though."

"Top... Hat..." said Luke, in mild disbelief. Layton was famous amongst the London Zoo animals as well?

The tiger misinterpreted Luke's reaction. "Blimey, ain't you a slow one? You got your free-ranging birds from inside the park, innit? The crows, the seagulls, the pigeons. Always bringin' us the latest London news. 'Course, they always try an' half inch me food, too."

"You know about me and the professor?"

"Oh, yeah, 'course we do. It's like one o' them telly box fings you humans watch. Keeps us from going bananas in 'ere, you know. 'The adventures of Animal Speaker and Top Hat. What will happen next?' That kinda thing."

Luke couldn't help smiling. It was amusing to hear that he and Layton were stars in the animal equivalent of a soap opera.

"You haven't seen anyone else looking like me, have you?"

"Nah, don't think so."

"Have you seen anything suspicious today? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Take a butcher's up there, mate. That parrot? He talks the human talk. But he ain't no zoo animal. Just appeared suddenly, out o' nowhere, like. Frightened the life outta me, and I don't scare easily, believe me."

The parrot was up in a tree, directly above the tiger. It was preening its feathers with its beak, obviously proud of its bright green plumage.

Still looking up, Luke blinked in surprise. The parrot seemed to shimmer, turning into tiny little dots as if it was some kind of TV signal breaking up but in three dimensions; and then suddenly it rematerialised right in front of him.

"Warrrgh!"

"See what I mean?" said the tiger. "If that ain't strange, I dunno what is."

The parrot decided its next perch was going to be Luke's shoulder, which Luke found a little alarming, but at least it wasn't flying away. He'd need to show the professor.

"Blimey, I'd better tell the pro - Top Hat - about this. Thanks for the help, Mr Tiger."

"No probs," said the tiger. "Can't wait to 'ear about how Top Hat solves this one!"

Making sure the parrot was happy staying where it was, Luke walked quickly towards Layton.

"Professor!"

Layton excused himself from the others and turned to face Luke. Flora, too, had heard Luke's shout and came walking towards them.

"What's wrong, Luke?" said Layton.

"It's this parrot, it -"

And that was when the world seemed to blur together, in a spiralling mass of colours and shapes, before unifying to a dull grey...

...and then the world reformed again. Suddenly Luke felt tremendously ill, his stomach doing roly-polies and his head pounding hard as if someone was beating a metal bar against the inside of his brain.

"I… feel dizzy, Professor," he mumbled. There was no response.

He shook his head slowly, gradually losing the feelings of nausea and pain, and he looked to his side. Layton was nearby and seemed to be mildly disorientated as well, holding his head as if suffering from a headache.

At least it wasn't just me, thought Luke, but what on earth's going on?

The zoo had vanished, to be replaced by a mostly residential area, with various cars parked along the road, the odd red postbox, and a few trees dotted in front of the semi-detached houses. The only building that looked somewhat commercial was a golden-bricked arched structure about 50 metres away; it sort of looked like a college building.

There was nothing unusual about any of that, except that he didn't remember actually arriving here. In fact, he didn't think he'd ever been to this part of London. He didn't recognise the street at all.

The parrot was gone. Had the parrot somehow teleported them all here? Maybe it was the time machine...?

Wait a minute...

A new, cold feeling settled at the bottom of Luke's stomach, making him feel sick in an entirely different way. Where was Flora?

Layton recovered, turning to his apprentice. "Luke. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Professor - but Flora's missing! What happened? Where are we? How did we get here?"

"Oh, no... Flora!"

Layton called out a few times, casting a concerned glance across the street, and then his slightly worried look changed to one of mild recognition. "Wait... I know this street…"

"You do?"

Suddenly, a man rushed past Luke's back, almost knocking him over.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Luke yelled.

The man ignored him, continuing to sprint at full speed as if a house was on fire. "No, Claire!"

Layton's eyes followed the man scrambling towards the yellow building. And then they looked up towards that same building.

"This is not possible," he whispered, now appearing uncharacteristically dumbfounded. He took a step back. "It can't be."

"Professor? What's wrong?"

Luke had never seen him like this before; he was positively spooked. Given the amount of crazy escapades they had gone through together, Luke couldn't think how this quiet backstreet could possibly compare, but apparently there was something about this place.

"Luke, quickly!"

The building exploded.

And that was the moment when Luke disintegrated.

Of all the moments to watch...

The pivotal moment. It was a fork in the road; a change in direction. All it took was one difference, and the river flowed along another path.

But he couldn't change its course.

Maybe this was the memory that would set him free? The one that would stop him from travelling in this direction?

The hidden memory of Bostro, Ward... and the future Professor Layton.

[ - Hidden Memory #9 - ]

"Bostro."

The voice was smooth, but there was a dangerous edge hidden underneath, and Bostro twitched nervously as he waited for the inevitable storm to erupt. Layton didn't really get angry, per se; he just turned into a complete icicle - cold, sharp and deadly - and would order a person's death without a second thought if he so desired.

Bostro was fervently hoping that he wasn't next on the list. He did know exactly why he had been summoned, though, and for some reason, Ward was still in the office; Layton hadn't dismissed him. Was Ward going to be his replacement?

Ward was leaning against the wall of the office, with his arms folded, nonchalant as usual. Bostro hated him right now. Him and his stupid glasses. It just wasn't fair. It was all right for him, he never had to personally deal with Layton's sadistic games. But if any members of the Family screwed up, Bostro was the one in the firing line.

"...You lost the boy again, didn't you?"

"But, boss..." he said, wondering what on earth he could say that would result in him not incurring Layton's icicle wrath. "You ordered us not to use so much force this time..."

"Indeed I did," said Layton, sighing. "It matters not. Dimitri has informed me of a rather... interesting development concerning Descole's time machine. The boy's condition has stabilised, thus his next emergence will be permanent. I now know precisely where he'll head to next, in the event you fail to capture him again."

Thank goodness for that. Layton no longer had the dangerous air about him, which probably meant he had been expecting the failure and didn't care about it. He was the kind of man who would have a contingency plan for a contingency plan. But Bostro's pride was large enough that he failed to accept defeat at the hands of a mere child.

"We'll get 'im for sure this time, boss."

"Really, you needn't bother, but... Well, I won't stop you. In fact, I thought you might like to try again. I'd like you to use the Guard robots this time."

"Eh? But Triton's spies always neutralise 'em."

"Exactly," said Layton. "It will be more convincing."

"Oh, I see... A set-up."

Layton nodded. "That being the case, I would like you to place this piece of paper onto the boy's person."

From his desk, he handed out a piece of paper to Bostro, who took it without question. One thing that hadn't changed about Layton over the years was his love for giving out puzzles, so there was nothing strange about this order.

Ward shifted position, unfolding his arms. "Do you still want me to meet up with them when they arrive?"

Layton regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, and then a small, but cruel smirk appeared. "Of course. It's not very often one is presented with an opportunity such as this one." He waved an imperious hand.

"You're dismissed. There is something I wish to discuss with Bostro in private."

Ward made a tiny salute with one hand, said, "You're the boss," and turned around to leave the office.

Bostro frowned after him, watching the double doors slam shut. Ward had only joined the Family very recently - about two weeks ago - but he'd already worked his way up through the ranks. Most of the Family members didn't even get to see their shadowy boss. Somehow Ward had managed it.

He looked back towards the desk, and there was dark amusement in Layton's eyes.

"Not jealous, are you?"

"Er... no." Oops. Had he been that obvious?

Layton chuckled. "Ward is undertaking a very specific task for me. You need not worry. Your position within this organisation is secure."

"Er... good to hear, boss," said Bostro, always freaked out by the way that Layton always seemed to know what everyone else was thinking.

"Now," said Layton, "how is our eagle-eyed little receptionist?"

"Heh," said Bostro, forming a devilish grin at the change in subject. "He's receiving 'treatment' as we speak."

"Excellent. Have the traitor brought down to him. I'd like to have a chat with them both."

[ - 9 - ]

So many lives, so many pasts, but only one future. Which memory was the right one?