A/N: My last piece of writing for 2013! I'm going to drag this piece into 2014 with me and hope that I can update it at a good pace! uwu~

Chapter 1

The halls of Scotland Yard were unusually quiet as the arms of the clock struck noon and the few detectives that left to go get lunch isn't what contributed to the silence. It was by this point in the day that the place would be in somewhat of an uproar; new cases being brought in, suspects, some of which put up a loud resistance, were also brought to the detective respectively assigned to the case, or any other nonsense that would manage to happen during the day. But today was an odd, slow one; cases not flowing in like they had been, it was almost considered a bit boring by some.

The atmosphere would always take a complete turn when young, Detective Constable Lucy Baker came crashing through Scotland Yard's main entrance; holding on to her hat to keep it in place as she ran. It was a common occurrence by now with her late habits; she no longer received a collection of stares from her co-workers, but instead just gained small grins as she flew by with a quick hello.

Her running footsteps echoed through the hall and brought them some life as she turned the corner to see her destination in sight. "Prof!" Lucy burst through the door of Mystery Room out of breath. "I got some news! There's been a- Prof?" She had expected the inspector to be at his desk working on a case file, and sometimes with a cup of tea, as he waited for her to arrive. But he was nowhere to be seen until she immediately heard cursing come from the other room. "Potty Prof?" Lucy reached the doorway just as he smacked the reconstruction device.

"This damn piece of junk won't work!" He let out a frustrated sigh and looked over to Lucy. "Good morning, Baker. What is it you have to say, or did you just rush in because you're late again?"

"There's been a murder at the art museum; it was jus' reported in." The shining curiosity of the case faded from her scarlet eyes as soon as she realized the obstacle in the way of them investigating it. "But wit' the machine broken we can't-"

Potty Prof's outburst of laughter interrupted her. "This is the perfect opportunity to get out of here and investigate a real crime scene! There's no glitches to slow you down, no holograms to hide the true nature of the scene, and there's always the wonderful smell of fresh blood in the air. There's nothing quite like it, don't you agree Lucy?"

"I don't know wot ta make of it, Prof; a murder is a murder, and we 'ave ta solve it."

"Good, now let's go." He left the room to fetch his blue coat and was ready to walk out the door, Lucy following right behind him as they made their way out onto the streets of London to catch a bus.

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The duo arrived at the museum to see the small group of people starting to gather along the boundary of police tape; some angry and questioning why they couldn't be let in and what happened, while others had gotten too curious and wanted to see what was going on.

"Excuse me, sir!" The loud screeching of a megaphone's busted speaker blared from behind Alfendi and Lucy and immediately caught there attention. "I've been sent to bring you to the scene and give you the briefing once you arrived!"

"Meekins! We're only a few feet away; you don't have to make us deaf." Potty Prof kept a hand raised to his head, the ringing in his ears from Meekins not helping with the migraine he already had. "Turn that damn thing off and tell us what tell us what happened."

"Yes sir!" He saluted and gestured for the two to follow him inside, pushing through the crowd of people to the door. "The victim was Scarlet Hughs; a twenty year old art student who was reported missing late last night. Her body was found near one of the art exhibits and the cause of death is from a heavy blunt force object, which is missing at the moment, sir! Her body was found by one of the museum's staff members as the exhibit was getting ready to open; there were no witnesses, but there are two suspects, sir!"

Meekins continued on with his brief report, accidently slipping into the habit of using his megaphone again only to get threatened by Potty Prof who was on the verge of smashing it. He had just about finished the required details of the case when they arrived at their second floor destination; the woman's bloodied corpse slumped against the wall.

"The Lady in Red…" Alfendi read aloud the title of the painting hanging over the young woman's head and laughed. "I appreciate the clever placement of Ms. Hughs' body; it's not just her dress that's red, but this whole little scene that's covered in her blood."

Lucy looked anywhere but the body, the sight of it making her stomach churn. Seeing the murder up in person was nothing like looking at it through the holograms of the reconstruction machine; the blood on the floor slowly running while at the office it would be at a standstill. She had been sheltered from their previously investigated crimes, and it made her felt unprepared.

"Lucy!"

"Y-Yes Prof?" Her thoughts were redirected to the impatient Alfendi that she missed a question from.

"I said, what are your thoughts on the case?"

She still avoided the body and looked up at the ceiling, noticing the little electronic on the wall in the corner of the room. "The security cameras! Do ya think they caught the sus' who killed the lass?"

"It's possible, but too simple. They wouldn't allow themselves to get caught that easily unless they were an idiot who had no idea how to even murder someone properly."

"I'm goin' ta call Flo and see if she can get these processed for us; they might help." Lucy dug out her cell phone from her pocket to see that the museum didn't have any reception. "I'll be right back, Prof!"

"Don't get distracted and waste your time looking at the gallery, Lucy. You wouldn't want to hold up our investigation and let the killer roam London longer, do you?" He knew her well, and it was only bound to happen if he didn't give her warning.

"Don't worry, Prof; I won't be gone long." With her usual bright smile gracing her face, Lucy took off towards the stairs and saw Alfendi take off towards another section of the gallery to investigate; turning down a hall where he was no longer seen.

OoOoOoOoO

"Alright! Thanks Fl-"

"Excuse me, Miss!?" The unexpected blast from Meekins' megaphone made her jump, a scream almost reaching Florence's ear on the end of the phone line. She had almost wished now that Potty Prof did break it when he had the chance. "Have you seen Inspector Layton?"

"The Prof? He were investigatin' the murder when I left 'im… Did ya check the first floor of the gallery?" Lucy's heart began to race; she had only left him alone for a few minutes and now he was gone. Could it be possible that the murderer was still hidden in the museum? She quickly dismissed the idea; they would have been long gone by the time anyone seen the crime, or someone would of heard something if anything happened to Alfendi. "Flo, thank ya for the 'elp, but I need ta go."

"We already checked the first floor, Miss! Inspector Layton wasn't anywhere in the- where are you going!?"

"I'm goin'ta find the Prof!" Lucy ran back inside and rushed to the stair case; she remembered what Alfendi had told her on their way to the exhibit.

There was a case three years ago, one he wasn't assigned to, but still overheard about it back at Scotland Yard. A little girl and young man were reported missing after their trip to the gallery; the girl reported by the parents that brought her, and the man after he had not shown up to work after a few days. The police eliminated the possibility of a kidnapping due to the young man having no prior crimes, and it soon lead to the mystery of where the two went. There were no leads or suspects and in the end they never found; they just disappeared. Lucy feared that the same thing could be happening again.

"Prof!" Her voice echoed down the halls of the empty exhibit and she got no response. She immediately traveled down the hall she seen him go down and was faced with an empty hall, a wall occupied a single, large painting. "Fabricated World…"

It seemed more like a child's drawing, random scribbled sections of blue, green, yellow, and red consumed by the black ones that took up a majority of the canvas. In the bottom right corner there was the portrait of the same woman in the painting above Ms. Hughs; The Lady in Red.

Lucy observed it as she passed by, noticing a patch of black paint that seemed to be running out from the frame. 'That's not right…' She brushed her fingers over the paint on the frame and it was still wet; the lights beginning to flicker before they powered down. The sound of something splattering hit the ground behind Lucy and she turned around to the red text sprawled out in front of her.

'Come play, Lucy.'

"Prof!" It was a desperate cry of help that he didn't come running to; the red text she thought was paint now smelling more like the faint scent of blood. She looked back at the black paint that started the odd chain of events and it had formed itself into another message.

'I have what you're looking for'

Her heart now pumping wildly in her throat, Lucy ran to the staircase; a loud bang on the window making her scream as she kept going. A quick look back showed the faint shape of a hand's impression left on the glass.

Back in the gallery everything was quiet; the police and Meekins were gone along with the people who had collected outside the museum. The only thing Lucy head was the faint sound of footsteps and the sound of her own breathing.

"This isn't funny! Give back the Prof!" She shouted into the empty gallery and her response was another splatter that painted itself on one of the walls, but she waited to read it; something catching her eye about one of the exhibits.

In the large painting, Abyss of The Deep, there were two roses that seemed to be floating in the painting like it had come alive and the water was real. The only way that Lucy could tell what the roses were was by the one, lone petal of red on one, and the single purple on the other. She knelt down to touch the painting and instantly flinched back at the icy, cold sensation of water. It was real and she found that she could stick her arm in and there was no bottom.

"'Ow…?" Lucy was left with no logical explanation; one puzzle that didn't have an answer. It didn't take long for a black arrow to splatter itself on the floor, pointing to the message from earlier.

'You want to save them, don't you?'

Now it was testing her, and Lucy knew what she had to do as she turned back to face the water; a set of blue, paint footprints leading her to jump into it. 'I'm comin' ta get ya, Prof!'

She stood on the edge of the painting with shaking legs, letting out a nervous deep breath as she tried to stay calm. With a leap Lucy jumped into the painting after the sinking roses, the two staying just out of her reach as she descended further into the darkness of what felt like the sea.

Leave a review if you want guys; there's always advice that can help to improve! Reviews are my lifeblood! OuO~