We Need to Talk

Luke and Emmy

Emmy Altava clasped her sweaty palms in her lap with grim anticipation. As she waited she felt as if the grey walls were closing in like they were ready to condemn her. He should be arriving at any moment. She had not seen him since she took off, and he had been so young then. The click of the opening door caused her heart to drop to her stomach.

Emmy was the first thing he noticed, and his eyes grew round when he did. He had on a navy blue sweater vest and tan slacks. The remaining feature from his childhood was his quintessential blue cap. She had to admit he had grown into a handsome young man, even if he did not quite look happy to see her.

"Hello, Luke," she greeted him meekly after the he sat across from her.

"Emmy," his brown eyes were nowhere near as warm as she remembered. The ice in them was also present in his tone.

"How have you been?" his initial response to her question was an aggravated sigh.

"I'm fine," it could not have been more obvious that Luke Triton did not wish to speak to her, making Emmy's attempts to console him all the more awkward.

"That's good," she continued to grope for topics. "I heard from the professor that you're about to finish university. How is that?" At the mention of the professor, Luke glowered at her.

"So you've been in touch with Professor Layton," he nearly fumed. "What did you talk about, hm? Did the last time we all were together come about?" He had fired a shot and hit her square in the chest, but she continued to sit up straight.

"I-I-,"

"I've had enough of your probing, Emmeline Altava. What am I doing here?" She looked at him as if struck her. The former Targent agent was not expecting him to use her full government. Following a deep gulp, she forced herself to keep his gaze and admitted, "I came to formally apologize. I was hoping for reconciliation."

Luke leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. He was no longer looking at her.

"I see," even for a double agent he was now unreadable. "Now tell me. What did you honestly expect to come of this?" She felt her chest churn.

"I just thought that," it was very unlike her to stammer, "because you weren't angry with me all those years ago..."

"I was but a boy, Emmeline. And a naive one at that." It was starting to seem as though things would not go the way she hoped.

"Luke," she pleaded.

"The professor you spoke so fondly of trusted you. I trusted you," he frowned deeply at her, boring into her being with his eyes. "Only for it to be realized that you were lying the whole time."

Emmy's hands clenched into fists. Perhaps it truly had been foolish to hope things could go back to the way they were just because she reappeared out of the blue ready to repent.

"I did grow to care about the professor and you a great deal, Luke," she argued.

"Yes, and you had a rather peculiar way of showing it, no?" Incredulous anger wrapped around his tone, but there was something else present? Was it hurt? It must have been, for when he continued to speak he resembled the boy she had betrayed all those years ago.

"You held an ice pick to my neck. Despite how much I apparently meant to you, despite everything we'd been through you were ready to kill me before I could even blink."

The vagabond's regrets created a tornado inside her that seemed to suck the air from her lungs.

"I'm sorry," was all she could whisper. Her previous comrade folded his hands and rested his chin on top of them. He was no longer looking at her.

"You asked me before how I'd been," he almost sighed. "I'm about to graduate at the top of my class. Later I plan to propose to Ariana, whom I reunited with at the university, and become a detective. Maybe start my own adventures like the professor." He brought his eyes, which for awhile now had no longer been their warm shade of brown, to hers.

"I like the road my life is going. But I can't quite say I see you anywhere down it." Even when she expected it, it still stung indescribably. Luke rose and stalked toward the door. He turned toward his former friendly rival one last time.

"You've already made amends with him, haven't you?" He asked as if he already knew the answer.

"Yes I did," her answer came out uncharacteristically soft.

"I'm not surprised," Professor Layton's old apprentice shook his head. "'Tis just what a gentleman does." He frowned sadly at the woman who he'd explored a curious village with, whom he'd had so many adventures with after that, as if he were remembering how they used to be.

"I guess I'm not there yet." And Emmy Altava say as the thud of the closing door echoed around her.