"You won't be the only one for long," Jim assured John lazily, taking a large bite of his apple and spitting the seeds in Watson's general direction. "There are others I plan on bringing in."
"Like who?" John asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the well-dressed man sitting across from him. Other than the chairs they were sitting in (or were tied to in John's case), the room was utterly empty. The lighting was dim and there were no windows, so John had no way of knowing where he was. A faint sound of dripping water could be heard somewhere – it came about every two seconds and was far enough away to hint that the room was a large one.
"That pathologist, the detective, the landlady, his brother," Jim answered, ticking the people off on his fingers. He wouldn't use their real names – he didn't respect them enough. "That should be sufficient. The man doesn't care about anybody else anyway. There's no one else we could take that would affect him."
John tensed at the word "we." "There is no we," he spat, squirming in the chair he was bound to. "I'm not working with you on this. It's sick and twisted and… and… and do you even have a motive?"
Jim shrugged. "Bored. I'm bored, John. You've lived with Sherlock long enough that you know what people like he and I are capable of when we get bored."
John couldn't help but shudder at this simply because it was true. He'd seen Sherlock shout at the TV or shoot the wall more times than he could count out of sheer boredom, but he knew that wasn't the worst of it. He had also watched Moriarty himself play with people's lives, coming within seconds of blowing them up or killing them just for fun. "But why Sherlock?" he asked desperately.
"Because he's a challenge!" Jim shouted at his hostage. "He's almost like me, except that he enjoys some of you ordinary people. Since you're his weakness, you're what I use. It's simple, really. Anyone with a brain could figure it out."
But John still didn't understand. John would never understand. Because although anyone with a brain could figure it out, anyone with a heart could see it was wrong.
A/N: Thanks again for reading and for putting up with my hectic schedule! I'm home from band camp so I can write more, which is awesome. I tried to write a slightly longer chapter this time but it's still pretty short, so I appreciate everyone who enjoys the story even with short chapters and cliche chapter endings. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and anything and everything will at the very least be taken into consideration.