DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, its characters, or universe. All credit goes to the awesome people at Capcom and Level 5 studios for character and game design.

Karena, however, belongs to ME. No stealing her without permission please. :(

Also, small SPOILER ALERT for those of you who haven't played through the game or the extra content yet.

"Excuse me Miss, but do you have a permit to sell your wares here?" the young knight asked the slightly strange and mysterious hooded female as he approached her.

She stood at five feet and four inches, and from what was visible, he could tell that she had pinkish brown hair, as a couple of strands fell over her chest from under the hood of her velvet red cloak that she wore. To protect herself further from the cold – as it was currently winter – she also wore a greyish green long-sleeved dress that almost touched the ground, but didn't cover her brown ankle boots.

She turned to face him before pulling off her hood, revealing the light peachy face of an angel, with wide clear light blue colored eyes and full light pink lips. He also saw that her hair was in a half updo bun, with her bangs left out, which were parted on the right and almost covered her left eye.

As the knight gazed at the young maiden's beauty in awe, he couldn't help but blush.

"Oh, no. I'm not selling my scarves; I'm giving them away." She answered with a soft smile, bringing the knight back to reality. "You see, I have been rather ill and bedridden a long while, which gave me lots of time for crafting and things – like knitting. Unfortunately, I've knitted too many to keep, so as I'm now better, I've decided to give them all away." – she then reached into her basket – "Would you like one Sir Knight?"

"Well…" he started sheepishly.

"Oh dear! I was not thinking at all! You probably have no need for a scarf, what with that full suit of armor and tunic you wear all the time." The young maiden continued before going silent in thought. "Oh! I've got just the thing!" – she then produces a blanket from the basket – "How about this? It should keep you warm during the chilly nights we've been having. Oh and look! The color matches your cape! Anyway, it is the only blanket I made, so you're lucky I have decided to give it to you!"

"Oh, no…I mustn't…" the knight started to protest, being as kind as he could.

"Would you please?" the young woman asked with a bright smile. "I worked my hardest on this one, and I would feel terrible if you didn't accept this gift…"

She then pouted a little, and batted her long eyelashes to make the knight's heart melt.

He blushed even redder, rubbed his neck and said, "If you insist…" and received the blanket from the kind and beautiful young maiden.

She smiled and waved as he walked up the street a little to converse with his fellow knights.

"Karena!" a far off female's voice called out to the pink haired woman.

She turned to see a blonde with twin braids and a fringe, and blue-grey colored eyes, who stood at five feet and one inch tall. She wore a white knee length dress with puffy elbow sleeves and blue green accents which was held up in the middle by a blue green corset. Hanging around her hips was a brown belt with a pouch, and tied around her neck was a red hooded cloak. She also wore loose brown boots.

"Espella!" the young lady dubbed Karena greeted in response happily as her friend approached. "How did it go?"

"Great!" Espella replied, showing her friend her empty basket. "How about you? Did you give all of your scarves away?"

"Well, no…But I did give the blanket I knitted to that kind knight with the long rainbow plumes over there."

"You mean Inquisitor Barnham?"

"What?" Karena gazed at her friend confused. "The kind knight over there…is Zacharias Barnham?"

"Look…" Espella explained, as the two of them gazed at the group of armored figures in the distance. "You can tell him apart from the other knights by his armor and cape. See how much more intricate and decorated it is?"

And it was true, as Karena could see the various falcon-like embellishments on his helmet, chest plate, leg and knee guards. Not only that, but his dark blue green cape had a gold design along the bottom edge, and she could now see the telltale fiery red hair of his peeking out from under his helmet.

Upon realizing that the kind knight was indeed Inquisitor Barnham, Karena travelled back through her memories to the first time she had seen him – at her first viewing of a witch trial.

She didn't know if it was his fierce sharp grey colored eyes and slightly disheveled fiery red hair or his fearsome demeanor – both resemblance of a falcon attacking its prey. But one thing was certain: the furrow browed man had struck fear into Karena's heart, and she had vowed to stay as far away from him as possible.

"…rena. Karena!" she head Espella cry out with worry, bringing her back to the present. "Oh dear. Look at you! You've become pale. Maybe we shouldn't have ventured out today…" – she started to lead Karena down the street, the opposite way from the knights – "Let's just get you back home and all warmed up, okay?"

Her friend only remained silent as she hoped that she would never run into Zacharias Barnham again.

Unfortunately Fate had other plans for the two of them…

"Looks like your fair maiden is taking her leave." One of the knights said suddenly.

Zacharias turned as soon as the knight had said this, just in time to see the maiden he had known as Espella Cantabella lead the pink haired maiden away.

"And you walked over here before asking her name." the other knight added as Zacharias watched until the two young women were out of sight.

"Someone has taken a fancy for sure!" the first knight commented teasingly.

"Not at all." Zacharias protested while blushing bright red again.

"But we saw you give in to her charms and accept her gift!" the second stated as he gestured to the blanket his superior had in his possession.

"She has definitely caught your fancy sir." The first pointed out.

Zacharias finally gave in and agreed; the mysterious maiden had caught his fancy, as she was beautiful and kind. But first he had to befriend her.

'Next time we meet, I shall learn her name. It will be my vow when next we meet…' he thought with determination.

So what's going to happen with the knight who wants to become closer to the woman who's caught his fancy, and the maiden who fears him? You'll just have to keep reading to find out! XD

Anyway, I'm so excited for this one! It's my first video game fanfic and I'm excited to share it with you all! Even though it might not be that popular (seeing as this is the third fanfic in the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright list), I'm still posting it out there so someone can read and appreciate it. I do know for a fact that at least one person on deviant art has been looking forward to this for a while…

Lastly, I've got most of what I want to write down, but seeing as I've only got a month before school starts (I work as a teacher's aide), I'm not sure how often I'm going to post new chapters. What I can say is that I'll be concentrating solely on this one, so if it ends up spotty, just know that I want this story to be the best that it can be. So don't be upset if I don't post in a while.

Favorites, follows, and reviews are always welcomed. You can see pics of various scenes and things from this fanfic in my DA profile (link is on my profile here) in my folder. Hope you enjoy and look forward to this special journey! ;)