Madge Larrabee looked up at the small shreds of moonlight coming from the small window of her jail cell. She sighed, running her fingers through her disheveled brown hair. Tomorrow was her death-day. Tomorrow, she would be hanged from the neck until dead for the many crimes she had committed in her 21 years of life. Impersonation. Theft. Murder.
To be fair, she wasn't the one who had killed someone. That was her brother, James, who did that deed. Many times.
Madge stared, wide-eyed, at the scene before her. Her twin stood, panting, a long knife in one hand and a hammer in the other. Their mother and her father lay, bloodied and broken, in front of him. Outside, in the German streets, the rain poured.
He turned, a mere boy of 9, staring at her with a glazed-over look in his brown eyes. "They grounded me." He said simply, dropping the two weapons.
They had traveled after that, begging in the streets for money and food. When that didn't work, the two of them started to steal. That is, in fact, how they met their savior.
"Let's go!" Madge hissed, watching James grab silver pieces and throw them into a bag as quickly as possible.
"Shut up, he'll hear us!" James countered, tying the bag.
The lights flipped on. The two of them froze, turning to see a man walking towards them, a odd serene look gracing his angelic face.
"Now, what do we have here?" The man said in German, although he was obviously foreign. "Two rats stealing my collection of silver!"
Madge spat, drawing her knife.
"I wouldn't do that, dear." The man drew a pistol and pointed it straight at Madge's chest. "But both of you are quite clever, sneaking past my guard. Would you mind telling me how you did it?"
The twins looked at each other. "She tricked them." James said finally.
"Really? How?" The man asked, intrigued.
Madge sighed before beginning to speak in perfect Russian, saying basically that they were children of the master of the house's friend coming to visit from Russia.
The man's eyes widened. "Fascinating. You have a gift, my dear girl. How would the two of you like to come work for me?"
James shook his head. "We-"
The man scoffed. "Where would you go? To the streets where you two rats belong? This, my boy, is an offer you should not refuse."
Madge nodded before James could reply. "Yes, we both accept."
James glared at his sister while the man put the pistol away in his coat pocket. "Excellent. I am Professor Moriarty." He swept her hand up and pressed a kiss into it.
They stayed in that same house for the rest of their childhood. Moriarty went away, to England mostly to teach his classes, but he gave the two of them books and taught them how to wield weapons and the like. The two of them had plenty to eat and warm beds to sleep in. It was after the twin's 16th birthday that Moriarty added two more people to their home.
"James, Madge, please come here."
Madge put down the book and walked downstairs, where she found James and Moriarty with two other boys she had never seen in their lives.
"This is Sid and Colin. They are students of mine who are in Germany to study the culture for a while. That's their cover story, so remember it." The professor said. "Make them feel at home."
"Pleased to meet you." The two of them said in English.
Madge and James said nothing in reply.
For two weeks Madge kept her distance from the students. James became good friends with the three of them quickly, they were nicknamed 'The Three Musketeers'. Madge, in the meantime, fell in love with a German solider who walked by their home daily. It wasn't long before the two began to talk to each other, and then began their courtship.
"Oh John." Madge sighed, cuddling up beside the broad-chested man. "Let's get away. Go to France, like we always wanted."
He chuckled, drawing his love closer to his body. "Once my service is up, darling, we can do whatever we want."
The door banged open, revealing Moriarty holding up a pistol. The couple didn't have a chance to do anything before the teacher drew fire upon the solider five times, hitting him square in the chest. Madge wailed. "WHYYYY?!" She sobbed, clutching her love, his wonderful eyes going blank.
"We can't have the police muddling around in our business, girl." Moriarty said darkly, before walking past her. "Clean it up."
Madge was broken after that. She was devastated, and with a heavy heart, she vowed to never love again. It wasn't long after that the Professor took the four of them to England with him. He was to finally carry out his plan of destroying his long-time enemy, Sherlock Holmes, while getting a lot of money out of it at the same time. His plan was simple. James was to win the heart of Irene Adler. Sid and Colvin were to retrieve the photograph that would get them the money, and Madge was to make sure everything went according to plan. Ironically, she was to impersonate a French maid. Unfortunately, Colvin had the idea of getting married and abandoning the Professor. Of course, he had to shoot him as well. But Madge didn't care anymore. She had a job to do.
"Oui mousier, it allows no one inside." She said to her reflection in the mirror. Her dead eyes stared back at her. She was, after all, just a puppet. Just a stupid puppet.
"Madge, come downstairs." James called from the living room. She walked in to her brother staring lovingly at a seemingly impossibly lovelier girl. "This is Miss Irene Adler, my soon-to-be-wife." He grinned at Madge.
The girl nodded, smiling at James. Madge clenched her hands while curtsying. Pretty. In love. Talented. Everything that she wanted this woman had.
She despised Irene Adler.
So after all, why did her brother have to be decapitated? Why did the Professor have to plummet to his death? Though while he died, he took Sherlock Holmes with him. Accomplishing the task that she had been entrusted with, that she had failed. Madge felt something wet running down her cheek. With her shaking fingers she pressed into her face and found tears there.
She didn't want to die. She wouldn't be reunited with John. She was going to go to hell, and she knew it. She wanted to live. And despite her earlier vow, she dared to wish to love again.
"I don't want to die." She said through her tears.
"You won't havta."
Startled, Madge looked towards the window. Sid's face was there, twinkling with happiness.
"Sid!? I thought you were dead!" Madge said, surprised.
"Nope. I escaped that explosion by the tail of my coat!" Sid said, hooking something to the bard while he talked. "I'm here to get'cha out."
"Why?" Madge said bluntly.
"Professor's last order. He gave me a set of instructions he did. We're to take down John Watson, erase all the evidence of Sherlock Holmes we are." Sid finished his work. "And 'cuz...I don't wantcha to die." He blushed.
Madge started in astonishment as the criminal leapt down from the window. A minute later, the window was wrenched away and a large hole now replaced the bars. Madge quickly scrambled through and jumped down, where Sid was waiting for her. He caught her in his arms and set her down next to him.
"You...don't want me to die?" She asked.
He looked at her seriously, very un-Sid-like, and nodded.