"Have you seen thi-"

"No."

Layton sighed as she got yet another denial of any account of her brother. It seemed as though he had just dropped off of the face of the Earth. Maybe this wasn’t Earth. The face of anywhere then. Either way, he was missing, caput, and possibly dead. This wasn’t a comforting thought. Layton steadied herself and found a quiet bench to sit on, in the middle of a flower patch that faced a window out in to space. Had this not been the scariest place she had ever been, Layton would’ve loved to explore it in her free time. All the insane architecture, the beautiful gardens, the amazing view? What more could a teenage girl want?

Despite the impending threat of a possibly deceased brother, Layton was admiring the scenery. This place was so huge! Despite everything that had happened to her so far, all the mental scarring she would have, and the possibility of a dead brother, she decided to just calm down for a minute and take in the joy of being alive at the moment, and the beauty that The Surrounding provided. This dream world was rather beautiful after all, right?

Besides, if she was going to be dead soon, or wake up at some point, should she not enjoy the picturesque landscape (spacescape?) she had been given? Layton sighed as she watched everyone mill about her. She really should’ve been looking for her brother, but at the moment it just wasn’t in her. After rushing over here and then talking to Bela, it seemed as though all hope was lost. Neither Steven, nor Camelot, nor Bela, nor anyone she seemed to talk to knew where he had ended up.

Maybe this was fate just giving her what for. Had she done anything bad back in Destiny City that she was supposed to pay for? Well there was that one time she forgot to feed Mr. Bibbles. There was also that one time when she wanted a pack of seeds, so she bought a bag of red peony seeds rather than getting her brother a snack like she was supposed to.

Somehow, it didn’t seem like Layton’s life was all that “sinful.” She was an angel in the classroom, at least most of the time. It wasn’t so much that she was the brightest student, but she was certainly the quietest one. She still had friends of course, but she just didn’t like breaking the rules in the classroom. It was who she was.

It seemed as though none of that would matter soon though. After all, she was bound to wake up or get killed off like so many of the other civilians sometime soon right? It was just a matter of time and what not, right? Soon another space whale would come and just scoop her off and eat her later. She would never be seen from again, and no one would probably even notice she was gone.

Sighing, Layton adjusted her glasses and looked out into the stars. They were so big and infinite! It was sort of like this Surrounding place to begin with: far too expansive and expounding for one person to take in, yet completely captivating to any individual. It was like you could stare at it forever, and never truly comprehend it no matter how hard you tried.

Behind her sat a bed of flowers, planted by God knows who, and somehow magically sustained. They surpassed the test of time and all of reality as Layton knew it. Yet they were just flowers. Layton was surprised at how awed she was by something she saw nearly every day.

What she would give to just bend down, fall asleep in the flowers and then wake up in a whole new world, like Dorothea in The Wizard of Oz, or maybe Ariel from The Little Mermaid. It would’ve been nice to have a fairy tale ending right now. One where she found her brother, defeated the evil space whale queen and saved all of The Surrounding.

That wasn’t happening any time soon though, was it.

Finally, Layton examined the very exposition of the Chronos Outpost itself. The entire castle was huge; bigger than any building Layton had ever been in anyways. It reminded her of a church somehow, but that was probably just the size. The building didn’t have any paintings or stain glass like churches always seemed to have. Yes, it must’ve just been the size. The entire castle seemed to resonate with magical potential. Layton was just waiting for some sort of fairy godmother to appear, or even a magical tiger or something. Something that would say “joke’s on you Layton! This is all a dream!”

That wasn’t going to happen either though, was it.

Layton stood up and stretched herself out. After adjusting her glasses, she stood up and looked around the castle. She couldn’t just get discouraged! There were tons of people here, maybe a hundred even, and at least on of them had to have seen her brother! Maybe even Felix was around here somewhere- maybe he and Callum had stuck together somewhere. Maybe they were looking for her right now!

Well if they were looking for her, she had to look for them. Layton nodded to herself, and straightened out her little skirt that she was wearing. It was time to get serious, stop being such a wuss, and look for her brother. Of course, the “stop being a wuss” part was next to impossible, but she was going to try. At this point, she headed off in a random direction, eager to find her brother, and get the hell out of this weird place.


((WC: 954))