Professor Layton and the Shadow Legend

Prologue

Sorry this took so long, fanfictions are harder than they seem, and I wanted this to be a good prologue.
I hope you enjoy it, it took me a while to come up with a truly laytonesque plot, but it's been worth it. If you enjoy, please just hang on and I will have more out soon enough.
-Dragonite.

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"I don't want to say goodbye again! I can't! I won't!"

Hershel looked at Claire, taking in every detail. She looked shocked that he had shouted like that, but then she smiled.

"I know you. And I know you'll stay strong. After all..."

Her face was full of sadness.

"That's what a gentleman does."

Hershel stopped at this. Claire had been the first to say that, back when they had first started their relationship. Now, years later, this line was almost Hershel's catchphrase, he said it so often.

"I must go now. Thank you for everything. Goodbye."

Claire turned from her lover and began to walk away, turning a corner and vanishing.

Luke, who hadn't said anything the whole time, looked up and the ran forwards. He looked around the corner and exclaimed out loud.

"She's gone!"

As the snow started to fall, Hershel turned away from Luke and removed his trademark top hat, the only remaining gift from Claire.

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Luke jumped off his suitcase, which he had been sitting on, and stared down at the floor.

"I guess this is goodbye."

"Oh, no, my boy," Hershel replied, "this is so long, not goodbye."

Luke began to cry.

"Now Luke, you know a gentleman never makes a scene in public."

"I'm sorry Professor, but I'm not a gentleman yet!" Luke started bawling, and ran over to hug his old friend. The person he had solved all those difficult cases with. The person who had saved Misthallery from destruction. The person who Luke had come to consider his best friend. Four years was a considerably short time, yet Luke knew the professor so well.

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As the ferry left, Hershel looked out over the sea, watching as his apprentice number one moved on to a new life.

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Almost a month had passed since Luke had moved away. Professor Hershel Layton sat at his desk in Gressenheller university, thinking over his past adventures before the workday started. It had become something of a routine for him.