A Fight From The Shadows Ch. 1

"Flora, this way!" Luke cried, dragging her around another corner, the Family hot on their heels. They'd just escaped from the Towering Pagoda, their clothes having become tattered in the process. The brainwashing that their former mentor had used had finally wore off and they knew that, if they didn't leave then, they would never be able to.

Unfortunately, Layton had managed to find out of their escape and had sent his men after them, not wanting them to make it to the Resistance. Which was why they were running through the half destroyed London in front of them. They didn't know where to go from the tower, they just knew they had to get away.

"Luke..." Flora panted out, stumbling a little bit as they turned into an alley, the footsteps echoing behind them. "I don't know how much farther I can go..."

Suddenly, she collapsed, Luke losing his balance as she fell. Luke tried to help the girl up, but she was too heavy for him to support, her weight causing him to fall to his knees beside her. He knew he couldn't give up though. The Family would surely catch them if he did. But when he tried to help her again, she pushed him away. "No, Luke. Don't worry about me. Just go!"

Luke looked back at her, tears in his eyes. He couldn't lose Flora. Not now. "But...Flora..."

"Go!" She shouted, using the last of her strength to push him away again. "We can't let them catch us both. If they do...we'll never have our freedom."

"Flora..." Luke whispered, tears now streaming down his face. "But..."

They could both hear the footsteps getting closer, knowing the Family would be on them in seconds. Luke grimaced before kneeling down and pulling Flora into a small kiss. "Flora, I promise you, I'll come for you.  I won't let Layton keep you captive in there."

With that, Luke pivoted around and ran just as the Family made it to the alley. A few of them still chased after Luke, but most of them surrounded Flora, two of them jerking her up rather forcibly by her arms. She couldn't resist though. She was out of any energy reserves she may have had.

The men that surrounded her soon parted, revealing him. Hershel Layton himself. His black coat billowed out behind him as he stepped forward, twirling his cane in the air. His monocle gleamed in the moonlight, his steps stopping mere inches from Flora, who was shaking in fear and exhaustion. Layton's eyes flashed angrily as he brought his gloved hand across Flora's face, the slap leaving a red hand mark on her cheek.

"You shouldn't have left, Flora. You had everything with me. Power, money, and all of London at your feet. So, why did you run?"

She mumbled out an answer, her voice not even audible in the silence. Another slap to her face, the red mark getting darker. Tears were flowing from her eyes now, not only from the pain, but from sheer terror as well. She only looked down though, her fearful eyes not wanting to meet his malevolent ones.

"Why did you run, Flora? !" Layton yelled, grabbing her chin and pulling it up to face his.

"Because you don't own me! You don't own this city! You don't deserve to!" Flora yelled back at him, anger causing her to start resisting her captors.

Layton glared at her before he chuckled, the chuckles soon turning to a loud, uproarious guffaw, his laughter echoing throughout the empty streets of the dead city.

Flora stopped fighting, confusion coming across her. Why was he laughing? He'd been angry only moments ago...so why...?

"Oh, my little Golden Apple, you don't understand. You do belong to me. All of London belongs to me and there is no one who can say otherwise." he purred out, his hand stroking her face.

She jerked away from his touch though, a hardened glare looking back at him."You're wrong! The Resistance will stop you! I know they will!"

He chuckled again. "The Resistance can't stop me. No one can." He took his gaze from Flora, now facing the men who held her tightly. "Take her back to the tower. There's still one little mouse that I need to go capture."

The men nodded, pulling a now-struggling Flora away, her yells echoing out long after they'd disappeared into the night.

Layton's mouth shifted into a malicious grin as he continued forward. "You're next, my apprentice. You're next."

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"Augh!"

Crash!!

"Ooh..." Luke groaned as he shakily pushed himself up, his legs and hands bloody from his fall to the shattered glass that littered the street he fallen to. He didn't know exactly where he was, the streets having gone unfamiliar when he'd made it out of Chinatown. But, wherever he was, he knew he couldn't stay there. They would surely find him if he did.

He struggled to keep himself going, but his adrenaline was fading fast. He staggered forward a few steps before he fell to his hands and knees, his blood smearing the street a dark red. "I...I can't...I can't go any farther..." He clenched his hands, tears falling to the gravel in small droplets. "I'm sorry, Flora...I failed you..."

"Oi! There he is!" The Family. They'd found him. It was only moments before he felt them lifting him to his feet and binding his hands behind him. He immediately knew this was a bad sign.

Dark laughter. "There you are, my dear apprentice. Where did you think you were going?" Layton stepped forward from the shadows of a nearby abandoned store. "Did you really think you could escape me?"

Luke sneered. "I actually thought I could. Why? Does this make you angry, master?" He asked sardonically. "Because I would just hate to do that, master."

Layton growled before he pulled his black and bloodied rapier out from beneath his coat. He slowly stepped forward, enjoying every moment of Luke's fear. He fed off of it as he moved closer and closer, putting the end of the blade to Luke's neck.

He grinned psychotically, tilting his head slightly to the right. "Yes, you would, wouldn't you? Of course, now you aren't being very cooperative, Luke. It's a pity really. There was so much potential in you."

Luke's eyes widened, his fear driving his movements as he tried to pull away from the evil professor. "No...no! Help! Somebody! HELP!"

Right as Layton was about to slash Luke's neck, a small, round ball rolled out in front of him. He stood confused for a minute, but growled when it exploded, smothering the entire area in a thick smoke. Layton coughed, his eyes darting left and right, trying to find the source of the attack.

Within the smoke, the men who had been holding onto Luke let go as they started to cough uncontrollably as well. Luke would've taken this as his chance to run, but he too was having a hard time breathing, the smoke becoming too much for his lungs to handle. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was two strong arms lifting him into the air and running.

When the smoke cleared, Layton became furious as he took in the scene before him. Luke was gone and all that was left was his men, who were still coughing madly, and a gold puzzle piece, the sign of the Resistance.  

He clenched his teeth in anger as a loud growl escaped him and, gripping his rapier, slashed the throats of the gang members in front of him, his anger being released in his actions. Their bodies fell to the ground, each thud making the grimace on Layton's face larger. The Resistance was going to pay dearly for this. He would make sure of it.

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"Luke...Luke! Wake up!" A strong, yet smooth voice yelled out, shaking the small boy in his arms.

The black and white-clad boy groaned before opening his eyes. Where was he? He could hear the sound of rushing water nearby. Was he near the Thames river? He wasn't sure, but he did know that there was dirt beneath him, not gravel like before. That, and he was in someone's arms. But, he just couldn't tell who. The owner of the arms' voice though broke him from this thoughts.

"Luke! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" The voice breathed out, a sigh of relief barely being heard.

The young boy blinked his eyes, trying to get his eyesight to not be so blurry. When his eyesight cleared up a little, he could make out a tall person in front of him, clad in blue. But, his vision was still too blurry to make out who it was. "Who...who are you?" he asked softly.

"You mean...you don't remember me? It's me, Clive." At the mention of the other person's name, Luke jumped back a little. He didn't know anyone by that name. At least, he didn't think so...did he?

Clive. That name did sound familiar, but Luke wasn't too sure why. When the brainwashing had taken place, a lot of his memory had been lost. But, now that he thought on the name, a few, scattered memories started to come back to him. Memories of a young man who looked almost like his twin, an older version of him. That's when it snapped into place.

"Clive? Oh my goodness, Clive!" Luke cried out as he jumped at him, wrapping his arms around the older teen's waist. "I missed you..."

Clive wrapped his arms around Luke too, returning the hug. "It's good to see you're alright, Little Luke. We were wondering how long it was going to take you to break free of the mind control Layton put you under."

Luke's eyes widened as he remembered something else, pulling away from Clive's embrace urgently as his eyes went wild. "Oh gosh, Flora! I...I completely forgot! Clive, they...they have Flora!"

Clive's eyes widened at this news before he cursed under his breath. This wasn't good. Not at all. He had wanted them both safe. Hadn't Lando said he was going to get Flora while he had gotten Luke?! He growled in his frustration. What could've caused Lando not to be able to get to Flora? Had he been held up or...had he...Clive shook his head. 'No, I can't think about that now. Lando can take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine. But, I am definitely giving him a strict talking to when I get back to the base.'

Luke looked on in worry, his hand reaching out for Clive's coat before he could even stop himself. "Clive...are you alright?"

Clive looked back down at Luke and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Come on, let's get out of here while we've still got the cover of night as our guard." He took the boy up onto his back, carrying him in an unknown direction to Luke. It was silent between the two for a few moments, but Clive broke it just as Luke was starting to grow accustomed to it.

"But, in response to Flora having been taken, that's really not good. We were hoping that both you and Flora would be able to escape. But...now...well, we'll explain everything to you later."

Luke cocked his head to the side. "Clive, you keep saying 'we'. Just who else are you referring to?"

Clive smirked as he lifted his head up to his younger look alike. "Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm a member of the Resistance."

Luke's breath hitched. "You...you are?"

"Mmmhmm." Clive nodded. "We've been keeping a close eye on you and Flora for a long time, Luke. We knew that if we had any chance of taking Layton down, we'd need you two on our side. But, we knew it was not possible with the mind control in your system. So, we had to play the waiting game until it wore off. Which, by the way, I'm sorry it took me so long to get there to you."

Luke shook his head. "No, I'm just glad you made it there when you did. If you hadn't...I'm sure he would've killed me."

Clive closed his eyes at this, deep in thought. "He must've been pretty confident in his control over London if he was going to kill you." Clive looked to Luke again. "You're one of the few people who has the right knowledge to take him down, Luke. Do you know that?"

"Well, I do now."

Clive chuckled softly, his chuckle much more kind and soothing compared to Layton's. "Well, will you join us then? We need you, Luke. And you'll be much safer with us then with him."

Luke didn't even hesitate. "You know I will. When the mind control wore off, I realized just how crazy the Professor had gotten. I...I don't even know what caused him to become like this...do you, Clive?"

Clive sighed, his eyes turning to the ground as he continued walking, a small living district starting to show up on the horizon. "I do, Luke. And, let me tell you something. This story is not a good one. In fact, it's horrifying...are you sure you want to hear it?"

Luke clenched his eyes shut before nodding slowly. "I need to know, Clive...if I wish to bring the old Professor Layton we know back, then I need to know..." he whispered.

Clive finally stopped, setting Luke down inside of an old building that used to be a library, dust and cobwebs lining the old bookcases which spread for, what looked like, miles.

"The remains of The London Library..." Clive mused sadly. He shook his head though, his expression going firm. "We'll rest here for the night. Once the sun starts to rise, we'll make our way to the Resistance's base."

Luke looked around him an a melancholy awe. He remembered when this place used to be a place of learning, a place of peace and comfort. It was so sad to see it in the shape it was in now.

When Luke looked back to where Clive had been, he saw that his friend had already moved towards one of the bookcases and was sitting against it. Luke meandered over to him, his back sliding down the bookcase as he sat down next to the tired teen.

"So..." he started nervously. "Could you tell me the story?"

Clive turned his head slightly, his eyes taking in the poor boy beside him. He let out another sigh before finally relenting.

"It started like this..."