A/N Already I've warned you that it's sad... I literally cried while writing this... (Why did I tell you that? I don't really know.) I'm not going to talk after the chapters, so I'll probably babble a little here. (Anyone that's read Ice Princess knows I do that...) I came up with the idea the night after finishing PL and the Unwound Future. I went into a mini depression that whole week afterwards, the game was so sad. :P Beginning of the second chapter I'll tell you my exactly thoughts when I made this story in my mind, but for now... You can probably kind of tell what's coming from the title here... I hope you enjoy it and don't hate me too much afterwards... :3

The Last Case

Chapter 1: Once Again

The street was quite save for the sound of my footsteps on the sidewalk. I watched my breath form a fog in front of me, my mind racing yet at the same time feeling numb. It was a cold night, as it had been the previous years when I'd made this trip, just like I always would, till the day I die. This was the second time this year, and odds were I'd come again a few months later.

My left hand was stuck deep in my pocket, attempting to find warmth. I couldn't tell if I was cold or not, but I was shaking all over. In my right hand there was a bouquet of flowers. They were all brightly colored and I knew mostly made up of his favorites, one I didn't care to remember the name of, for it would only bring more pain.

I kept thinking about that night, replaying the moments over and over in my mind, feeling more horrified with each time. I still ask myself all the time- why couldn't it have been me? Why did it have to be either of us? It was the one puzzle that I hadn't been able to work myself out of.

I looked up from my slow walking, and my steps seemed to get heavier as I approached my destination. It was just up on the right, surrounded by a cold, uninviting short metal fence. I went on auto-pilot as I stepped under the arch. I'd been here so many times before that by now I knew every step of my path.

The smooth, decorated stones around me let off an waft of sadness all their own, as if the air wasn't already clogged thickly enough with it. I could feel it distinctly. As I dared to looked around while walking, I almost saw the ghosts of people who had visited before me, on their knees crying.

I'd grown enough so that I didn't cry so much anymore, like I had those first times. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt still. It never got any better, nor would it ever.

Finally, I came to my destination, moving even more heavily than I had been before I'd gotten here. I got down on one knee and set the bouquet on the now-flat area of ground. The grass had grown full over it long ago.

I glanced at the grave next to it. Claire _ I took a flower from the bouquet and laid it over Claire's grave as well. Then I read the inscription on the headstone in front of me, though by now I had it memorized.

Professor Hershel Layton

Died as he lived, solving the world's greatest puzzles. Friend, mentor, fighter, lover... Genius.

I had written the inscription, though there was one thing I didn't want to put on it. Because no one, not even he, would have guessed that he would be murdered.

A/N Hmm... that was shorter than I remembered... If anyone knows Claire's last name let me know please... Dx (Sorry for talking)

P.S. Expect the next two chapters in the next two days.