The Phoenix

by Noizz

It's been sixteen months since John watched Sherlock fall from a rooftop, and John, now struggling with alcoholism and depression, is almost ready to give up. That is, until he starts to receive cryptic messages from the caller ID "Holmes". Originally thinking it is Mycroft, John becomes even lower, until he realizes the clues may in fact lead to something he never dreamed of.

1. Chapter 1

16 months after The Reichenbach Fall

Whiskey. John's old mate never had liked the taste of it, and seeing as how John really was never fond of it himself, he never kept great stores of it. Of course, that was when Holmes had still been around.

Three AM, and John sits, like too many other nights, too tired to weep, and too drunk to do much else than stare dizzily at the yellow smiley face that – for one reason or another – had been spray painted on the surface of the peeling wallpaper.

His thoughts are on Holmes again; a giggle escapes him that seems quite out of place as he glances over at the skull atop the mantelpiece that dons an old fashioned deerstalker like some kind of grotesque mannequin. The hat is in the exact place it had been since Sherlock Holmes last placed it there, after deciding pointedly that it was "and ear hat, John!"

Watson let go another round of humorless, drunken chuckles at the memory before taking another large swig of whiskey, then passing out not two minutes later.