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"Is everything all right, Luke?" The professor asked two hours into their silent road trip. Luke shifted on his seat and fiddled with his hands. Despite his worries, Layton tried to keep his eyes on the road. "Luke?"
"Yes." He replied quickly, head bowed down, staring down at his lap. How odd .
"Are… you sure?" He didn't mean to be rude, prying into someone else's private manners was ungentlemanly, but he couldn't help the worry he felt for his dear friend. He'd been unusually quiet ever since he'd returned from overseas. "Is it something I did?"
That got a reaction out of him. He jolted upright and turned towards him. "Of course not, Professor!" He shouted, pouting and clenching his fists. Hershel gave him an odd look before setting his eyes on the road again.
"Well then, what is it?" Luke fell quiet again, and Layton sagged his shoulders a little. Clearly, the boy didn't want to talk. It would be best not to pressure him .
About 10 minutes later, Luke spoke up again, his tone flat. "It's not you, Professor." He mumbled, staring gloomily out of the window towards the foggy meadows.
"..." He remained quiet, fixated on the road. He tried to take in every meaningless little detail to avoid looking at Luke. He didn't want to pressure him.
"It's um… Dad." He squeaked, bringing his feet up on the car seat. He sounded genuinely upset, almost scared. Hershel gripped the wheel tighter.
"Clark?" He inquired, and despite the silly nature of the question, Luke nodded and hid his face on his knees. "What's the matter?"
"..." Luke said nothing, only bringing his legs closer to his body and wrapping his arms around them. He looked smaller than usual, perhaps even more so than when Layton met him again 3 years ago. "He doesn't love me anymore."
"What?" Hershel startled, turning towards Luke against his better judgment. He noticed right away his teary eyes, nibbled lips and rosy cheeks. "What makes you say that?" He asked a bit hurriedly, taking control of the wheel again and hastily pulling over the side of the dirt road. He couldn't focus on driving after what Luke'd said.
"I… I can't tell you." He whispered, his voice noticeably cracking. Hershel unbuckled his seatbelt and reached out for Luke, but he flinched away. "Y--You'll hate me too!" He sobbed.
Hershel was left stunned for a brief second, how could Luke ever think that? Slowly, he reached over to unbuckle Luke, he didn't protest, so after nudging the seatbelt aside, he pulled him closer to him. "Why?" He asked carefully, patting the sobbing boy's back softly.
Luke sniffed and looked up at him, wiping his eyes with his sleeves. "You sure you want to hear it?" He sounded scared, Layton didn't trust himself to speak, so he simply nodded. "All right…"
Luke squirmed away from him, taking a few moments to breathe in and out to calm himself down. Hershel waited patiently, keeping his distance and trying not to make Luke feel uncomfy by looking at him.
Finally, Luke patted his cheeks, exhaled deeply and looked at Layton with an as confident and determined look as he could muster. "I told dad my name wasn't Luke."
"Huh?" He couldn't help but hum curiously, tilting himself at L-- the boy. He squirmed in his seat, his confidence slowly disappearing as his mentor grew more and more confused. "Can you explain?"
The boy slumped back on the car seat, once again pulling his legs to his chest and propping his chin up on his knee. "I told him my name is not Luke, and that it's Lucy."
"Lucy, huh?" Lucy nodded, fiddling nervously with the buttons of his messenger bag.
"It's Lucy because Luke is a boy's name… And I don't think I'm a boy." Lucy squeaked, burying their face between their knees and trembling like a leaf. "Please don't hate me." Came their muffled plea.
Layton blinked slowly at his quivering friend. He couldn't claim to understand how Lucy felt, but surely it wasn't something Clark would stop loving them over? "So you're a girl?" He inquired curiously.
"Yes, I think so." She whispered, picking at a scab on her leg nervously. "Dad said he wouldn't be having it, and told me that I could only come back when I had come back to my senses."
"Clark said that!?" He asked, startled. Lucy flinched and he cleared his throat, awkwardly coughing behind his fist. "Sorry, continue." What Clark had said… It was far too harsh! Had he really said that? He stayed quiet as she continued explaining her situation.
"Yeah, and he thought you'd be the one to make me 'snap out of it.’" She sighed sadly, letting go of her legs and repositioning herself more comfortably on her seat. "'Cause you're logical, he said."
"Well, not to speak ill of an old friend, but that's just plain wrong." He replied, crossing his arms and tapping his bicep with his finger as he thought. "Sure, it might not be common - at least I've never heard of it, but it's not something that ought to be fixed!"
"You really think so?" She asked hesitantly, looking at Layton with a glint of hope in her eye. He nodded, smiling softly at his friend.
"Well, of course, Lucy!" The girl let out a sweet giggle which she tried to stifle. His smile grew, the girl he knew was coming back to him. "It's not wrong to be a girl, that is just natural!"
"Even if you're…" She gestured to herself, clearly uncomfortable. She slumped, sighing sadly.
"Well of course! A girl is more than just that, Lucy." He reached over and wiped away a stray tear. She scrunched up her nose, displeased, but stayed put. "For example, you love puzzles, animals, and food, and you are kind and smart, if a bit clumsy. That's what makes you you, and you are a lovely little lady!"
Another giggle escaped her and she threw her arms around Layton's torso, squeezing him tightly and almost knocking them both over. He laughed breathlessly, gently pushing Lucy back before she could snap him in half.
"There, there, dear girl." He chuckled, fixing the girl's hat on her head and buckling her in her seat again. "Let's get going, yes?"
"All right!" Lucy exclaimed, pumping her fists in the air in excitement. She was practically vibrating in place, and her smile was bright.
Layton chuckled softly, fixing his hat over his head and buckling himself in. As he pulled into the road again, he saw Lucy pulling a handkerchief out of her messenger bag and using it to wipe her muddy footprints off the car seat until it was clean again. She's always been tidier than me .
She tucked the handkerchief away, careful not to dirty her bag, and pulled out her notebook. "So, Professor," She started, straightening her back and puffing her chest out. "What are we investigating?"
With his eyes on the road again, he tilted his head towards the notebook in Lucy's hands. "Why don't you tell me, Lucy?"
"Right!" She said, flipping it open and quickly finding the page where she'd crudely written out the case details. "Locals from the town of Wolfwater claim that a super scary creature living in the lake is taking people away and eating them! Some say it's a horse, some others say it's more human-like. What do you think, Professor?"
"It's a little too soon to start making assumptions, my girl, don't you think?" Lucy huffed, hanging her head and crossing off something she'd written on the top of the page. Smiling faintly, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a letter. "Here, read this for me."
"With pleasure!" She exclaimed, taking the envelope from Hershel's hands. She opened it with a paper-knife, careful to not damage the beautiful yellow seal. "Ahem! 'Dear Professor Layton, my name is Luna McMurray, I'm writing to you because… "
As he listened, his mind wandered to Lucy's earlier statement. 'He doesn't love me anymore ', she'd said. Lucy wasn't one to make such harsh stuff like that up, had Clark said that to her? That he did not love her?
He didn't want to believe it, as distant as Clark and Lucy had grown over the years, it had always been clear to Layton that Clark cared deeply for his family above all else. Did he change more than Layton initially thought? Was he wrong about his old friend?
He didn't want poor Lucy to feel like her father didn't love her, that there was no longer a warm home to welcome her when this case was over, but…
It had not slipped his mind just how much extra luggage Lucy'd brought with her this time around, it had been quite a puzzling task to make it all fit in the trunk of the Laytonmobile.
He thought that… Perhaps Clark's mind was already made up when he sent his daughter to Layton, wishing he'd 'fix' her.
He didn't want her to come back.
I could take Lucy in, he thought.
It was a daunting thought, he ought to think more about it! What if he was wrong, or Lucy didn't feel comfortable? Oh, he shouldn't think so negatively, it wasn't proper…
Despite himself and his doubts, his mind was made up. One look at the girl, scribbling notes on her notebook was enough to convince him it was the right call.