Summary: One-shot. While on the trail of another mystery, Luke sees a strange man emerge from an even stranger police box.

Spoilers: None, the fic takes place at an indeterminate time.

Notes: Spontaneously written in response to a comment on the Layton Livejournal community, and... I finally decided to post it here. Lightly edited for grammar, layout and typo fixes. It's very short, because this was all I could come up with in the space of fifteen minutes.

The Vanishing Man

It was while partaking in that ancient British art of queuing, inside King's Cross station, that Luke noticed the blue police box. It hadn't been there a moment ago... Or had it?

As the Professor stepped up to the train ticket dispenser to buy their tickets, Luke kept watching the police box. The door folded open, revealing a man in a long, brown trench coat. The man closed the police box by key, and glanced around to see if anyone had seen him, at which point Luke looked away. When Luke turned back, the man was gone.

Thinking nothing more of it, Luke followed the Professor as they made their way towards platform ten. Layton came to a stop and pulled the letter he'd received this morning from his pocket, and he began to read it again:

"Dear Professor Layton,

I hope this finds you well. I am writing to ask for your assistance once more. North London is suffering from a mysterious illness. The locals say it is being caused by an evil spirit from Highgate Cemetery, haunting the fields of Hampstead Heath. I, of course, ascribe to a more scientific reason for the events befalling this fair city..."

Something caught Luke's eye. It was the police box man from before. The man ran in a mad panic and with a sense of urgency, darting through several surprised commuters, knocking over luggages and shoving away abandoned trolleys as he sprinted right past Luke and Layton and into the Nine and Three-Quarters section. The man pointed an odd device up at the Nine and Three-Quarters plaque. The wall shimmered for a brief moment and the man darted inside, just before the illusion of a wall with a plaque and a trolley reappeared.

"Professor! Professor! Did you see that?"

"See what?" said Layton, looking up from the letter. "What on earth's got you so excited?"

"The police box man! He just - disappeared! Right through the wall! Over there!"

For a moment, Layton gave his apprentice a perplexed look, but they had both experienced enough adventures and mysteries to know that things were not always as they seemed, and he nodded, walking over to where Luke had pointed, where the wall's plaque proudly hung.

"Hmm," said Layton.

Luke was always amazed by Layton in 'thinking' mode; things just seemed to happen, and he wasn't disappointed this time. When Layton gently knocked on the brick wall, the wall flickered and disappeared, as if it had been a hologram. Inside was an alcove made of metal, with pulsing buttons of blue and red on the sides. It sort of looked like a very hi-tech lift.

"My word," said Layton.

"Do you think it's connected to the Highgate hauntings, Professor?"

Professor Layton smiled, eyes alight with delight at the prospect of another mystery to solve. They would probably miss their train if they followed this lead, but that didn't matter when a puzzle like this was staring them in the face.

"There's only one way to find out," he said.