p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sherlock woke up at first blearily, then with new energy as he remembered the events of yesterday. He jumped out of bed and got ready to start the third day of the contract. He didn't even need the seven days he was given; he was already so close. He buttoned up his shirt, somehow not missing any despite how fast he was going. He plopped back down on the bed and noticed Mrs. Hudson by his side with a smile on her face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Well, isn't someone excited today?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock smiled back at her before bounding back up and starting out the door to the foyer. He wondered where they would go today. Back to the town? Maybe into the fields they passed yesterday? Back on the beach? To somewhere totally new? He was bubbling with excitement at what adventure he would have next with John. He'd started to feel a warmth from him yesterday that he really couldn't explain, and now any task, no matter how menial, was enjoyable if John was there. He knew the prince felt the same way, especially after last night. He was sauntering down toward the foot of the stairs when he heard voices coming from the foyer. He slowed and leaned against a pillar close to the stairs eavesdrop./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"What breakfast would you both fancy today?" said Mike./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Whatever Ivan wants is fine with me," John said, but it was more monotone that his normal vernacular. Odd and concerning. Sherlock filed that away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Oh, eggs and toast would be perfectly fine with me," said the new person, Ivan. There was something about his voice; something that made his stomach sink. He listened closely for this newcomer to speak again./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"That would be great," said John./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Alright, I'll have the chefs whip it up right away," the butler said. Then his footsteps echoed out of the foyer down another hallway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /This time Sherlock waited, barely breathing so he could hear the voice as clearly as possible./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Your butler is quite the gentleman," Ivan said, and suddenly it clicked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock could continue to hear them both chatter with small talk, soon fading as the two headed down the same hall Mike had used, but the detective was too in shock to follow them. He was in shock, heavily leaning against the pillar for support. That couldn't be anyone else's voice, that was span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"his/span. He felt nauseated as he sank to the floor. How could someone have his voice? It had to have been Moriarty. He was playing dirty. Sherlock chided himself for ever agreeing to the contract in the first place. How could he not have foreseen the warlock cheating, of course he would have. But why was he doing this? It couldn't be Moriarty himself down there, no, it had to be a foot soldier. Some pawn of his that was quick to obey his commands. Could it be that the warlock was scared that Sherlock would fulfill the contract? That in the end he wouldn't be the victor? That had to be it. The detective knew he had been close, and the warlock must have seen that too. What was the purpose of his voice though? He knew it was supposedly payment, but there had to be some other motive. What power did his voice have over John? The prince had only heard it once, and that was when Sherlock saved him, but was that of significance? The detective wasn't sure how much of that John even remembered. No, Moriarty had to have given something else to this Ivan, something to give him the upper hand in this situation and make it impossible to fulfill Sherlock's side of the bargain. Sherlock was going to find out what that power was, for his sake and John's./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He staggered back up to standing, the nausea subsiding little by little. He brushed off his clothes, straightening them out, and waltzed down the stairs and into the dining room. There, Ivan and John were sitting side by side, not on opposite sides like when Sherlock had his first meal here. It was infuriating, but he knew that he'd have to keep these new found emotions in check if he was going to get to the bottom of this. He sat down across the table from John and noticed how something seemed to be missing. The prince was quiet unless spoken to, otherwise he sat at the table, slightly slumped and with his eyes glazed over. When spoken to, he rarely answered with enthusiasm unless he was talking to Ivan, then he seemed to get his usual passion back, but it only lasted for minutes at a time. Finally, breakfast was served./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock poked at his eggs while Ivan told wild tales about his adventures out at sea before he became shipwrecked here. All lies, the detective stabbed his egg, causing the yolk to ooze out. John sat there, almost doe-eyed, listening to the tales. He didn't even touch his food, unimportant compared to the new guest. Mike also was enamored, but at least he was eating. Sherlock wanted to comment that John should really eat something, but alas he couldn't. It was the first time he'd felt trapped because he didn't have his voice since John had first found him on the beach. He was always so accommodating and made an effort to try to understand what the detective was saying, and now he wouldn't even look at him. He tried using his fork to tap John's plate to get his attention, but all he got was a glare from Ivan for somehow interrupting. This kept going, a back and forth of Sherlock trying to vie for John's attention and never succeeding, all the while Ivan being the center of it. Sherlock couldn't take it anymore, abruptly standing up, causing his chair to screech against the floor. For the first time there was silence./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"What's the matter, Sherlock, sick again?" Mike asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock shook his head and looked to John, who was now finally looking at him, but with a blank stare. The prince didn't even say a word./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He pushed his chair back in with more force than needed, causing the glass and china on the table to rattle, as he stormed out of the room. There were so many emotions trying for dominance in his head: he was angry that John was acting this way, frustrated that he'd lost control of these stupid emotions that had somehow wormed their way into his psyche, worried what was going on with the prince, depressed with how he was being left out, even worse ashamed that he'd let something like this happen to John in the first place. How could he have been so naive to even try to beat someone as skilled as Moriarty. The warlock didn't play games; he only cheated and would end up winning in the end. He burst into the living room and plopped down at a chair, glaring at the fire as if it had the answer. He wanted to throw something, punch a wall, break a vase, anything to vent his frustrations. He kept glaring, scrunching up his face more as he tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, hoping that he could somehow grind a rut into it. Yet, as he sat in the chair the insane amount of anger started to peter out into a simmer. He sagged into the chair, more than slightly embarrassed at his outburst. He wanted to go back into the dining room and try to explain himself, but he knew that was impossible. He opened his mouth, trying to get any sound out, but nothing came. He would never be able to apologize, not like this./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Hearing a door close behind him, he noticed a maid leaving Eric's room. Probably bringing him breakfast. The maid noticed him, gave a warm smile, and then left. She probably had much to do considering the size of the castle. It amazed Sherlock how discreet the waitstaff was at the palace; they always seemed to go unnoticed even in plain sight. They could be amazing replacements for his seagulls. He needed a network, what with this new "guest". He wouldn't be able to ask them to spy for him. He'd have to do some spying of his own. That would have to wait until he could figure out where their quarters were. The best option would probably be to stay near Eric. Someone would be back to check on him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Quietly he opened the door to find Eric wolfing down a plate of eggs. He took a bite of toast before noticing the open door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Oh, hi, uh... Sherlock isn't it? Mr. Stamford told me your names last night while we were playing cards." Finishing his toast, he motioned for Sherlock to come in. He sat down next to Eric as he finished his eggs. Placing his plate on the beside table, he picked up a deck of cards.i/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Want to play?" Eric asked, "Mr. Stamford said I could keep them and play solitaire, but honestly that game is so boring."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock smiled and nodded. Eric shuffled the cards, then dealt them, explaining the game they were going to play. "War" was just a game of chance where people would flip the next card in their deck, and whoever had the higher card would take both. If there was a tie, then each player would put two cards face down and place the third one up; the player with the higher card would take everything. It seemed simple enough./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /While they both flipped cards, exchanging cards back and forth, Eric began to open up about his father. Sherlock presumed the boy saw him as someone to talk to who couldn't argue or cut him off, which the detective didn't mind. All the better to gather information at a pace Eric was comfortable with./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He talked more about how harsh his father's alcoholism was after is wife's death. Bottles would be scattered all over the house. Sometimes Eric would accidentally step on broken glass; after a while he just decided to pick up his dad's messes. His father would barely leave the house, but he wouldn't let Eric go either, not without a fight anyway. Eric would build elaborate lies about how he was still friends with everyone and would need to go see them. Even then Eric only got to go when his dad was too drunk to realize or care. Soon he actually grew apart from most of his friends, except for Emily./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He spoke quite fondly of her; sometimes stumbling over his words out of embarrassment. At one point he even accidentally swept the entire deck off of the bed when he recounted the first time he got to meet her. Sherlock promptly picked up the deck and sorted it back to how it was before the mishap, and they continued./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock was fascinated with what he observed in Eric: the raw emotion that he always had avoided and never learned how to cope with. He saw many correlations between how Eric talked about Emily and how he felt about John. He gripped his cards a little tighter./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"You and John seemed pretty chummy when I saw you last," Eric said, a grin tickling his face as he collected another two cards for his deck./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Right to the point, wasn't he?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock tried to not give any reaction, but couldn't help the heat that colored his cheeks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"So, you do like him. I knew it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock glared at him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"Oh, so are you saying you don't?" Eric raised an eyebrow./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock focused on the two cards that he'd just won as he placed them at the bottom of his deck. It was continually growing smaller; luck really wasn't on his side./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"You guys seem like you'd be happy together..." Eric said, winning another war. "Kind of like in the fairy tales."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock rolled his eyes. As if he'd ever act like some princess in need of saving. John was the one that needed the rescue./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Just then Eric finally won the whole deck. Shuffling the cards, he asked, "Wanna play again?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock shook his head, standing up and giving Eric a squeeze on the arm before going to the door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Eric waved and said, "Bye, Sherlock. Come back soon!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock smiled as he closed the door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He made his way back to the chair, not wanting to return to the mess he left in the dining needed to keep close to Eric anyway. He paused before he sat down and surveyed the shelves of books against the wall. Most of them were fiction. Books from above were hard to come by in Atlantica, so this changed Sherlock's mood. He strode closer, silently scanning the titles. Deciding on a tale about King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, he sat back down in the chair, swinging his legs over one of the arm rests. He engrossed himself in the tale. He didn't want to deal with reality at the moment./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="center"br /~~~~~/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock wasn't sure if it was after chapter twenty or twenty five, but at some point he'd dozed off. The room was so cozy: the fire crackled, spreading it's warmth throughout the alcove; the chair was soft, sinking slightly when someone sat, or in Sherlock's case, laid on it; the dark maroon of the room and the lack of light because of the closed curtains gave the room a more evening tone. Whether it was one or all of those factors, Sherlock had jolted awake after having a nightmare about being back underwater without his gills. He gasped for air as he flailed in the chair, almost falling out of it. The book that had been resting on his chest flew to the ground. Sherlock's hands were slightly shaking as he grabbed the book and put it back in its place on the shelf./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Curse this human body, he thought. He'd never dozed off before and rarely had nightmares, much less ones that made him wake up so violently. He sauntered over to the window and yanked open the curtains. He saw it was still light out, most likely midday based on the shadows. Damn. He hadn't mean to sleep at all, let alone this long. Slowly a small panic begun to rise in his stomach as the images from the nightmare receded and the memories of this morning came flooding back, as well as his plan to make more contact with the waitstaff. His plan was a total waste, he'd probably missed at least one chance to try and communicate with them, or at least make good enough bonds with them to hear the rumors. It was obvious that the staff would probably gossip about some things, especially with the new guest./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He chided himself as he went out into the main hall, which was... quiet./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Almost as quiet as some of the deepest caverns in the ocean where the darkness would blind you and the cold would seep into your bones. Sherlock shivered as his echoing footsteps faded down the numerous diverging halls of the castle, growing quieter as he slowed to a stop in the center of the hall. Somehow, the room felt bigger than he'd ever realized. It felt almost like it could swallow him with its emptiness. Sherlock felt the panic further hollowing out his stomach as he began to search for John. He stepped lightly, trying to not let his footsteps make anymore noise so he wouldn't hear that ghastly echo again. He needed to find the prince and fast; he could feel whatever monster was eating at his stomach slowly climb up his esophagus. He was surprised he wasn't choking by now./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He silently wandered the halls, desperately searching for John, but at some points he felt that any signs of life would do. He was afraid of this knawing pain that required companionship to be satisfied. Never before had he felt the need to be around other people, but now all he wanted was to be close to John. He needed him to be by his side, fully aware eyes staring at him with the interest they had the day he saved him. He would smile and wave to any of the servants he'd see, trying to keep up the facade that nothing was wrong. He could feel himself faltering./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Finally he reached his room, which from being lead there the first time he had gathered was one of the last guest rooms in the hall. He wasn't sure if there were any other halls that contained more guest bedrooms, and he had no idea where John's room was. He lacked so much data, and, for one of the first times in his life, had no mental means of retrieving it. His mind felt like it was a shaking mess. He wanted to put it off as a side effect of the human body, but even he was beginning to realize that it was foolish. The real fact of the matter was in mere days he had somehow grown so much more attached to the prince than he already had been that he *needed* to be within close proximity for long periods of time. He open his door, noticing that once again his hands were shaking. He knew it was again due to panic, but why was there so much concentrated at one time? He had faced much more frightening tasks, and yet the thought that Moriarty had taken away the prince and done god knows what to him had Sherlock tremoring with anxiety./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He saw Mrs. Hudson standing on the bed, turning to greet him, her face immediately changing the moment she laid eyes on Sherlock. He could see her mouth moving but for some reason couldn't hear the words. All he could think about was not knowing where John was and what was happening to him, and how it was his fault. He knew he needed to calm down. His heart rate was to high and his breathing to erratic. He curled up on the bed, trying to take deep breaths so he could *think for one goddamn second*. He felt Mrs. Hudson combing his hair with her claws: a comforting mechanism she often used. Soon his breaths came through his new lungs normally, and his heart didn't feel like it was ready to jump out of his throat. He slowly sat up, feeling drained. He looked to Mrs. Hudson, a worried expression still on her face. She didn't say a word; she knew better than to try and coax information out of anyone after an episode like that. She wondered over to the bedside table in case Sherlock decided to make use of the bed. Which he did. His bones felt too heavy. He wanted the down comforter to absorb every fiber of his being so he would never have to return./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /The closest he could get was cocooning himself inside the numerous blankets covering his bed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He watched the rest of the day pass by, hearing the faraway conversations of the servants as they passed his door. One remarked how the new guest was handsome. Another mentioned how they'd never heard of where he'd come from before, but why care when someone like that comes to sweep you off your feet?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Occasionally someone would come by to knock on Sherlock's door. He didn't make any effort to acknowledge. At one point, one servant, a younger girl with ginger hair and a spattering of freckles all over her face and hands peaked her head in. Seeing the lump on the bed, she slunk back out the door and closed it quietly./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /He didn't attend dinner that night. Unfortunately, that came to his disadvantage when he heard his stomach growl through the bed sheets./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /"You really should go get some food in your system, dear..." Mrs. Hudson remarked. The whole time she stayed at her post on top of the beside table, not talking, but simply being there. She knew how to deal with many of Sherlock's moods. The usual course of action was to wait it out and let him work through whatever was spiraling around in his head. "Do you want me to get you something from the kitchen?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /Sherlock remembered how well Mrs. Hudson going to the kitchen went last time. He couldn't risk letting someone else he cherished get hurt. Though the sheets, Sherlock sighed. Slowly, he shed the numerous layers of blankets and got out of bed. He then gave a small shake of his head to Mrs. Hudson and headed to the door. Mrs. Hudson waved her claw as Sherlock closed the door./p