They stood at the top of the building, the cold wind biting at their skin as Sherlock held Moriarty over the ledge. His eyes showed no fear, instead he glared amusingly at Sherlock, everything was going out exactly how he had planned it. He smiled as Sherlock pushed him further down as if to show Jim he wasn't playing around. He held his hands up, commiting himself to Sherlock's grasp- he knew he wouldn't let go of him just yet. "Okay, let me give you a little extra incentive." He smirked.
Sherlock frowned as he held the man, his life in his mercy. He could drop him and kill him right then and there. But something told Sherlock he couldn't... Jim wasn't that much of an idiot to not have a plan in case something like this happened. "You're friends will die if you don't." His voice was savage and daring, his lips curled at the ands in an amused smile. He was a phycopath and he knew it.
Sherlock's blood suddenly turned cold and his heart sand to his stomach. His throughts crept to John as the fear ate away at his being. "John..." Sherlock muttered under his breath, not really meaning to say it outloud but the words slipped out.
"Not just John. Everyone." Moriarty's eyes widened as he whispered the last word, as if to exagerate it.
"Mrs. Hudson..." Sherlock muttered, looking down at Moriarty. Fear evident in his eyes. He felt his heart beat harder, his skin crawl and his heart drop even further. His friends might die because of him...
Jim smile widened, "Everyone..." He whispered again.
"Lestrade..." He breathed. Jim just laughed coldly and nodded.
"Everyone, Sherlock... Even her." Jim's voice twisted in a sinister way his eyebrows raised in an an evil way. And his eyes glimmered with a certain look that horrified Sherlock- amusement. Jim knew something he didn't, and it wasn't going to be good and Sherlock knew that...
"But... I don't-" Sherlock stuttered out, not really understanding who else Jim could blackmail him with. He felt his heart beat faster, he didn't know who to expect. Sherlock pulled his hand away from the ledge and threw Jim onto the hard concrete floor of the roof they had been stading on. His eyes narrowed at the man, wanting an answer.
"Oh look," Jim smiled, crawling to the ledge and peering over the roof. "There she is now. In all her beauty. Unknowing what's even going on." He laughed sinisterly and Sherlock wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face right there and then.
Sherlock looked over the ledge and his eyes scanned the little crowd of people rushing about to get on with their lives. His whole body froze when his eyes landed on her... With her blonde hair falling at her shoulders perfectly, her face obscured by a large beanie she had been wearing, a leather jacket that meant so much more than just a jacket to Sherlock. She had been wearing a blue shirt, which suited her well and her phone was out as she looked around- as if looking for someone. Alice... His Alice. The girl he had shared his whole life with so long ago...
His blood boiled and his heart shattered. No, he thought, No, not her. He can't hurt her... He felt as if his whole world had come crashing down on him. He hadn't seen her in ten years and then he sees her again like this... in his last moments.
Jim smiled sinisterly, seeing that he had gotten his message across. He knew that had done it, just one girl Alice and he'd flip like a show dog. "four bullets; four gunmen; four victims... There's no stopping them now!"
Sherlock turned on him, tearing his eyes away from the girl he knew as Alice. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to. Jim just glared right back at him, "Unless my people see you jump." Sherlock gazed passed him, his eyes focusing on a much better image than Jim- Alice- he breathed heavily as he felt his heart shatter into nothing. He was lost in horror as he thought over those words. Unless they see you jump. He couldn't reply, instead he just tried to calm himself.
Jim laughed, "You can have me arrested, you can torture me. You can do anything you like with me, but nothing's gonna prevent them from pulling the trigger. Your only four friends in the world will die unless..."
"... Unless I kill myself. Complete your story." Sherlock finished for him. He didn't know what to think. Alice was down there, he wanted nothing more than to shout her name and smile at her- just the way she said she hated, be he would tease her any way. He wanted to embrace her like they used to, and hold her when times got tough... But he couldn't, if he wanted her to see the light of tommorow. He'd have to die.
Jim nodded and his smile grew wider. "You've gotta admit, that's sexier."
Sherlock was looking straight at Jim, but his gaze was lost and distant. He was horrified as he rethought everything. "And I dide in disgrace."
"Of course. That's the point of all this!" Jim exclaimed. He looked over the ledge again to make sure Alice was still there, she was. But then he saw someone stopping at the bench near the bus stop below. He smiled eagerly, "Oh, you've got an audience now. Off you pop! Go on..." He urged.
Sherlock stepped passed Jim and stepped up onto the ledge. His eyes focusing on Alice who looked like she was waiting for something to happen- as she kept glancing down at her phone and looking around. "I told you how this ends." Sherlock's breathing became shaky as he thought of what Alice would do when he saw his dead body sprawled on the floor. "Your death is the only thing that's going to call off the killers. I'm certainly not going to do it." He looked up at Sherlock seeing him utterly helpless. He had no choice, John and Alice meant too much to him.
Sherlock blinked anxiously, "Would you give me... one moment please. One moment of privacy?" He asked as he glanced down at Jim. "Please." Jim rolled his eyes and dissapointment flodded him at the sight of Sherlock being ordinary.
"Of course." Jim said numbly.
As Jim moved across the roof Sherlock took in several short and shallow breaths. He was anxious as he thought about John, Alice, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade. The only people that ever tried to see past Sherlock's wild antics and rude attitude. The only people in the world that were crazy enough to put up with him and belive in him.
But then, his braind kicked in as everything clicked into place. Sherlock's slilver- blue eyes glimmered and his facial expression soffened. A smile spread acrodd his face and he laughed. Laughed because Moriarty had just slipped up.
Jim stopped in his tracks and he whipped around, his expression angry as Sherlock laughed in delight. "What?" Jim asked trying to stay calm. But he got no reply but Sherlock's laughter. "What?!" He scream angrily, "What is it? What did I miss!?"
Sherlock turned on his heal and stepped off the ledge as he smiled at Jim, only to get a glare in return. "You're not going to do it? So the killers can be called off. Theirs a recall code or a word or number. He circled Jim like a vulture circles it's prey. "I don't have to die... If I've got you." Sherlock sang.
"Oh!" Jim laughed. "You think you can make me stop the order? You thing you can do that?"
"Yes. So do you." Sherlock said coldly. He was determined in getting out of this alive. He wasn't going to die, no not today. Not like this.
"Sherlock. Your big brother and all the king's horses couldn't make me do a thing I didn't want to." Jim retorted. Sherlock stopped and anger swept over Sherlock's face as he got close to Jim's face. His angry eyes peircing through his soul.
"Yes. But I'm not my brother, remeber? I am you- prepared to do anything. Prepared to burn. Prepared to do what ordinary people won't. You want me to shake hands with you in hell? I shall not dissapoint you." Sherlock spat.
Jim shook his head slowly and smiled. "Naah. You talk big. Nah, You're ordinary- you're on the side of the angels."
"Oh, I may be on the side of the angels," Sherlock's voice was low and sinister as his eyes shone with the sort of corrupt glimmer that sparkled in Jim's, "but don't you think for a second that I am one of them."
Their eyes locked for a long moment as Jim analized Sherlock. His words, his expression. Everything. Just how far would this man go? And that's when Jim knew, he wasn't bluffing. "No... You're not." Jim smiled, "I see. You're not ordinary. No, you're me." He let out a delighted laugh, "You're me! Thank you!" He lifted his hand out for Sherlock to shake. "Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock stared at his hand for a while before he raised his own and took it. "Thank you. Bless you." Jim blinked, as he realized Sherlock was right. "As long as I'm alive, you can save your friends. You've got a way out." He paused for a moment but then looked up. "Well, good luck with that!"
In the swift moment that Jim's eyes had reached Sherlock's, he grinned manically and opened his mouth wide. He pulled Sherlock closer as he reached into his waistband with his other and and pulled out a pistol. He raised it toward his own mouth and as Sherlock instincivley jerked back, Jim stuck the nuzzel into his own mouth and pulled the trigger. He crumpled to the roof instantly as Sherlock stared at him in horror. The blood trickled down the roof underneath Jim's head and his eyes hauntingly fixed open.
Sherlock spinned away from him, breathing hard and frantic as he raised his hands to his head in complete and utter horror. Sherlock just pulled his sleeve over his mouth as her beathed shallowly and rapidly, hyperventalating as the scene played over and over in his head. That's when he saw John's taxi nearing the building and Alice trotting over to it.
Sherlock turned and looked down at Jim's cold dead grin and then slowly turned towards the edge of the building. His breathing slowed as she stepped onto the ledge and he let out a small breath as he pulled out his phone and dialed John just as he got out of the taxi and looked around. Alice looked at John and then turned away, then she made the mistake of looking up and her eyes locked onto Sherlock's. Her breath hitched and her green eyes widened. The shock registered in her brain as she realized this is why she had been called here. "No..." Sherlock saw her mouth move.
John answered his phone as he made his way closer to the hospital. "Hello?"
Sherlock teared hiss eyes away from the frantic Alice and fixed his gaze on his closest friend. "John." Was all he said.
"Sherlock? You okay?" HE asked in confusion.
"Turn around and walk back the way you came. Now." Sherlock demanded, knowing exactly what he was going to do.
"No. I'm coming in." He protested.
"Just do what I ask. Please." Sherlock spoke franticaly. He gazed back at Alice and saw her starting to make her way to the hospital to stop him. "And stop that girl! Don't let her get away from your side!" John turned around looking bewildered as he caught the sight of the girl just as she was walking past him. He grabbed onto her arm and they extanged a few words before Alice and him walked back to were John had came from. What John had told Alice to make her agree so quickly was a complete mystery to Sherlock.
"Stop there." Sherlock instructed him as he got John in the postition with Alice that he wanted. "Okay, now look up. I'm on the rooftop."
John looked up and his eyes met Sherlock's and instantly John knew that nothing good was about to happen. His heart sank as his face filled with terror. "Oh God." Was all he managed to say.
"I-I... I can't come down. So we'll just have to do it like this."
"What's going on?" He asked anxiously.
"An apology." Sherlock stated. "Everything they said about me. I invented Moriarty."
John stared up at his friend and gulped, knowing damn well that Sherlock was lying. Although why, he had no idea. "Why... Why are you saying this?" He asked trying to keep his voice under control.
"I'm a fake." Sherlock's voice broke and a tear tolled down his cheek.
"Sherlock..." John said softly, not beliveing a word he was saying.
"The newspapers were right all along. I want you to tell Lestarade, I want you to tell Mrs. Hudson and Alice, and molly... In fact, tell anyone who will listen to you that I created Moriarty for my own purposes." Tears ran down his face as Sherlock tried hard to keep his voice under control.
John refused to listen, "Okay... Sherlock. Shut up. The first time we met. The first time we met, you knew all about my sister, right?"
"Nobody could be that clever." Sherlock retorted.
"You could..." John said bearly above a whisper. Alice was frantically trying to listen in, trying to understand the situation because she hadn't had a clue on what to do.
Sherlock let out a breathy laugh as his tears fell freely, "I researched you. Before we met I discovered everything I could to impress you. It's a trick. Just a magic trick."
"No. All, right. Stop it now." John shook his head as he refused the information his friend was feeding him. He belived in Sherlock. All those magazines and news letters meant nothing. He knew Sherlock wasn't a fake. I wanted to belive he wasn't a fake. He grabbed onto Alice's arm and walked toward the hospital entrance.
"NO!" Sherlock blurted out urgently, "Stay exactly where you are. Don't move." John let go of Alice's wrist and walked backwards to were he started out. He held his hand out up towards his friend and sherlock did the same.
"Keep your eyes fixed on me. Tell Alice the same." Sherlock told him.
He turned to Alice and told her to keep her eyes fixed on him. Her eys were watery as she looked up at Sherlock, her expression looking like a kicked puppy. Sherlock saw her face waas clear of makeup and she had that silly little scar on her nose from when they were children and Sherlock and her were exploring a lake out in the woods on a camping trip. She had fallen off a tree when Sherlock had frightened her and came tumbling down, her nose geting scratched up by the sharp branches of the tree. A small smile crept on his face.
"Sherlock. Who is she?" John asked quietly as he looked between them . Alice ran her hand in her hair as she looked to the floor, trying so hard not to cry but failing to do so as she had put all the peices together and knew what was comeing. She looked back up at Sherlock and he saw a small tear fall down her cheek as she mouthed Don't do it.
"She's a friend, John. An old child hood friend. She means alot to me and when this is all over, take good care of her okay? She'll need you and you'll need her." Sherlock told him, his eyes now focusing on Alice, his heart wrenching up as he realized he had never told her... She was going to witness him die without ever even knowing. It's too late now, Sherlock thought to himself. "Do this for me..." Sherlock ripped his gaze from Alice and stared at his friend.
"Do what? What do you mean 'when this is all over'?" Watson asked in horror.
"This phone call. It's my... Er, It's my note. It's what people do, don't they? Leave a note." Sherlock said numbly as he tried so hard to keep himself under control.
John shook his head as he momentairaly pulled the phone away from his ear and handed it to Alice. She franticlly took it and placed it against her ear. "Goodbye, Alice. We had some fun times." He sounded so broken, so lost. Like he had a million other things to say to her but no time left. She muttered "Don't you dare," Before John had ripped the phone away from her. Wanting to stop his friend.
"Leave a note when?" John asked frantic.
"Goodbye, John." Sherlock croaked, letting a tear roll down his cheeck and splatter on the rooftop.
John shook his head, trying to convince himself to wake up. BEcause this must be a dream, it must be... "No... Don't" He cried out quietly. Sherlock gazed down at them and looked up to the sky, taking in a deep breath and trying to force back his tears. He dropped his phone on the roof and held out his arms taking in one deep final breath.
His whole body was numb, the only thing he could feel was the thumping of his own heart... HE could hear it in his ears but nothing else. The whole other world had just dissolved into nothing.
"No... SHERLOCK!" John and Alice both scream as they see Sherlock plummeting down towards the ground. Alice had expected something to happen, for a hand to reach out from a window and catch him in his fall. For Sherlock to just not fall, for someone to catch him like in all the movies. Because the hero never dies... But, it wasn't a movie and Sherlock's body hit the floor just like that.
Alice wasn't aware of the world around her any more, her hearing had failed her and she could only hear a loud ringing noise in her ear. She was frozen as she locked her eyes with the body on the ground. She saw John lurched forward immideantly trying to get to Sherlock's body as fast as he could, as if he could revive him. But the whole world had slowed down and a few seconds felt like an eternity. She saw John get hit by a man on a bycicle and fall onto the floor, hitting his head hard. She saw his struggle to ramain consious as he wobbly got up and made his way toward his friend's still body.
Alice hadn't even realize she had started running towards Sherlock's body until she felt her self being pushed back by the bystanders. "Sherlock!" She heard her voice scream out. She looked to her side as she saw John looking helpless as she threw himself at Sherlock, muttering his name over and over and telling the people, "I'm a doctor. Let me come through, let me come through. Please." He sounded so dazed and lost it had made Alice cry harder.
But still the crowd pushed them back. "No he's my friend. He's my friend." John pleaded out as he pushed past the people. He reached down and grabbed a hold of Sherlock's wrist and searched for a pulse, but he found none. A woman peeled his fingers off as she and another person pulled the limp body of Sherlock away. He tried to get back to his friend, reaching out for him but then the shock sunk into his head and his knees gave out.
He slumped to the floor with only the support of Alice, who was just staring with wide eyes at nothing in particular, the true shock not sinking in just yet. alice saw as two people rolled Sherlock onto his back and revealed his blood stained pale face and wide eyes. His hauntingly silver blue eyes wide open. John groaned in dispair as he saw his friend was really gone. And as he tried to stand again he fell back, Alice catching him and muttering.
"Oh, Jesus... No..." Alice helped John back to his feet as he regained himself a little more, as he stared off in the direction that his friend had just been wheeled off to, the true shock of what had just happened sunk into Alice's head. He had saved her life once, but she hadn't been able to do the same. She groaned as she collaped on the floor, pulling her knees up to hide her face as she scream through her teeth. For so long, she had wished to be reunited with her onld friend. But this... This was not what she meant.