Chapter 26 - Old Cell, New Games
The ground felt soft. 'Am I … in a bed? Everything hurts.' There were bright lights and people's loud voices.
"That was her … that was her on the screen … that was her voice in the recordings," said a man with a soft yet high pitched voice.
"Yes … yes it was John," said a very tense, baritone voice. He sounded emotionally wounded. I tried to move my fingers. 'Everything hurts.'
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted her. She came from this facility. She talked to Eurus for god's sake!" said a very worried man with great authority in his voice. I managed to move my facial muscles. My eyes remained closed. I didn't want to open them. Everything was so fuzzy.
"Mycroft, what exactly has she done? She saved us," said John.
"Did she save us Dr. Watson? Or was all this planned? Did any of this have to happen?!" argued Mycroft.
"Yes, yes it did," said a woman's voice of the intercom. "Zephyr? Zephyros my dear, open your eyes," said the woman sweetly. My eyes flickered.
"Zephyros … " said Mycroft.
"God of the West wind," Sherlock finished.
"You are alright dear, please wake up, we are not on the plane anymore. You taught me to fly, remember?" said Eurus. I managed to carefully push myself up to a sitting position. The lights were very bright.
"Eurus, why is she in here? What did she do?" asked Sherlock very concerned. I looked at where I was, in a separate cell from the others as if I was a specimen to be examined. There was a sign. It read, "Stay Three Feet Away." I shut my eyes hard. I knew where I was.
"She DID nothing," said Eurus. I put my face in my hands.
"Nothing?! You have to do A LOT more than that to be in here," said Mycroft.
"She is not in here for a what she did, but rather who she is," said Eurus.
"Well, then tell us?! I mean why all this?!" said John gesturing to the entire room.
"I had to make sure the pieces were put back together, properly," she said.
"Pieces?" breathed Sherlock turning toward my direction.
Another video came on.
I heard it and looked up. Sherlock chose to watch me instead of the video.
Eurus and I were sitting in two side by side cells. Both of us were on the same side with our backs on the white wall. The glass barrier was the only thing between us. My eyes were closed with my head resting against the wall. Eurus kept her eyes open with her knees in her hands like a child. Her face was dead panned. "Tell me the story again," said Eurus to me without looking at me with little to no emotion. "What story?" myself said exhausted.
"The one about the flower," said Eurus robotically.
John watched carefully. Memories were coming back.
"You really like that story, don't you?" myself said in the video.
"Like and dislike are fairytales," said Eurus still deadpanned.
"Yes but you still like this one," myself continued calmly.
"You can't like something you don't understand it."
"Is that why you want to hear it so much?"
Eurus shifted to look at me.
"Now, do you want to hear it or not?" myself said with my eyes still closed. Eurus returned to her position.
"Yes," she said reluctantly.
"I want you to close your eyes and hold out your palm," myself said. Eurus actually did what she was told.
Mycroft tore his eyes away from the video to look at me in shock. I was still watching the video with a look of sadness and pain on my face.
"Once upon a time, there was a flower. The prettiest flower you could ever dream of, but, this flower came with a price. It was a timeless flower. It would never age, but it could die. It was very fragile so long as it remained undisturbed. It fell into the hands of a princess, a warrior, and a wicked witch. Who do you think killed it? And why?" myself asked Eurus.
"Pointless, any one of them could have done it, this story is at your discretion," said Eurus opening her eyes and putting down her hand. I opened my eyes in the video to look at Eurus. "Alright then, if you had it, would you kill it?" myself asked in the video.
My eyes watered.
"Well?" myself asked her. She thought for a moment.
"I wouldn't," said Eurus in the video.
"Why?" myself asked her.
"Because it was too beautiful and too fragile. It would be lost, forever," said Eurus.
"Exactly," myself said.
"That's what you want me to say," said Eurus. I sighed and closed my eyes again, resting my head back against the wall.
"That's what I want you to believe. There is a lesson to be learned," myself said, "Sometimes, Eurus, what makes you weak actually makes you strong. Sometimes, to become so strong, you have to be gentle," myself said.
The video ended.
Now they were all looking at me. A door opened, and Eurus herself stepped through the threshold with a gun in one hand, and a remote in the other. She stole their attention.
"Hey there, West Wind," she said ignoring everyone else except for me.
I stared at her with sad eyes.
"Did you miss me?" said Eurus. Sherlock froze.
"It was you," he said shutting his eyes, "Of course it was you, it's always been you."
"Eurus, why do all this, what is the point of it all?" asked Mycroft exasperated.
"To finish the story," she answered. Sherlock opened his eyes again.
"Story? What story?" said John.
"The story that started with Moriarty," she said. I held my head and she noticed. "Then, with me … and now, it ends with you," she said poetically pointing the remote at Sherlock.
"With me? Why?" asked Sherlock.
"But I need you to help me put the pieces back together in order to finish it," she added.
"Finish?" said John suspiciously eyeing the gun in her other hand.
"Don't worry, Dr. Watson … hopefully, no one has to use this," she said rotating the gun in her hand. I glared at her.
"We are nearly there, love, nearly there," she said taking another step.
"Who is she, Eurus," said Sherlock daring to speak. Eurus stopped and pointed the remote to the screen.
Another video came up.
The video showed Eurus in her cell with her violin.
She was playing. I was in the room on the other side sitting with my back to the wall looking bored. I too was given a violin, but I wasn't playing it. It was on the floor. Eurus stopped playing.
"What's wrong? You are not playing," she said from the other side of the cell. I sighed.
"I'm just tired of it," myself responded. Eurus started to play again softly.
"You don't understand it?" she asked.
"No, I understand it, it's just boring," myself responded.
"Boring?! It's perfect. You must be struggling with it," she responded while playing.
"I understand it, we just keep playing the same thing over and over again. And it's so classical, it's beautiful, but I want something different, something new," myself responded sadly.
"You never know if it's beautiful or not; only if it's right," she retorted. I sighed.
"And how do you know if it will ever be right? When will it ever be right? If no one ever put leaves in hot water, we would never have tea," myself replied. Eurus stopped playing. I reacted to her silence and turned to look at her confused face.
"What's the matter? Don't understand?" myself told her.
Another video loaded.
I entered the same room, only Eurus was waiting for me in her cell, but her violin was resting in a clear box standing up right. There was a panel with a pad and paper before me with a light that was beaming down upon it.
"What's this? No music today?" myself asked her.
"Oh no, there's definitely music today, but a different kind," she said with a dead eye stare. I eyed the camera before turning my gaze back towards her.
"Is this an experiment?" myself asked.
"Obviously," she said plainly. I studied her face carefully. She seemed … excited.
"Ok … So what's on the agenda for today?" I asked curiously. She glanced at her violin.
"I want you to design your own violin," she said.
"My own?" myself asked.
"Well you said it was boring so yes, you're own. I want you to draw it on the paper. I want you to draw YOU," she said.
"And if I refuse?" myself asked.
"Then I can't give you my gift," she said smiling with those non blinking eyes. I cocked an eyebrow.
"A gift?" myself asked skeptical.
"Yes! A gift," she replied smiling. I rolled my eyes.
"Is this a good gift? Or a bad gift, Eurus?" myself asked.
"There's no such thing as good and bad," said Eurus.
"Of course there is. The gift could be a beating where I'm in excruciating pain … or it could be my bran new violin," myself said confidently. Eurus's face dropped. Her eyes flickered from my left eye to my right, but I just kept staring at her with her own dead pan stare.
"So which is it? Good or Bad? Or Both?" She kept staring at me intently, as if she had just discovered something.
I bowed my head and gripped the edge of the bed.
Another video loaded.
"Now I want you to draw me a picture of a man," said Eurus.
"A man?" myself asked. The video of the bird's eye view of someone's hand with a pad and pencil came back.
"Sherlock, that was Zephyr's hand, before the scars," breathed John.
"Yes, but she's … right handed … " breathed Sherlock.
"Ambidextrous?" added Mycroft.
My head began to hurt again.
They exchanged looks before returning to the video.
"Yes, a man … a man whom you've never seen," said Eurus in the video.
"And how exactly am I suppose to do that," myself scoffed.
"Don't worry, I will give you context, but first … look at your reflection in the glass," said Eurus.
"My reflection? Why?" myself asked.
There was a quick edit.
"Why can't you be changed?" said a man not in frame. The video looked like an interrogation with myself sitting against the white wall again. My head was lowered looking at the ground.
"Well, according to Eurus, I'm … special," myself responded sarcastically.
"Do you think, perhaps, she doesn't want to change you?" the man asked.
"Yes," myself answered honestly.
"And why would she do that?" asked the man. I looked up.
"Because … I'm her friend," myself answered.
"You don't think it has to do with your relation to James Moriarty?" asked the man.
I could feel them staring at me. My head was in my hands now.
Another edit.
I was in my cell again but the name "Sherlock Holmes" was scribbled all over my cell. Jim Moriarty stood before me on the other side of the cell. My entire body was laying on the ground except my head propped up by the wall.
"Oooohhh look at you! My brave little soldier," mocked Jim. I looked like I had just been through hell. A violin in my hand had red stains on it's wood, but a knife instead of a bow was in my other.
Mycroft had his hand over his mouth.
"I'm … not your … little soldier," myself breathed.
John frowned severely and clenched his fists.
"No? … Maybe you are my little Detective, then?" he said glancing at the name all over the cell, "Do you know what happens now?" Myself glared at him.
"Yes … but I'm not your … little detective either," myself said sneering at him.
Sherlock closed his eyes in shame.
It looked like I had been playing gruesome music on my arm and not on the violin.
"I like how you designed yourself there," he said pointing to my scarred left hand, "What, you do that so you wouldn't get it wrong again? Well, you did get it wrong. Bach would be soooo disappointed." He sarcastically shook his head.
"I don't give a damn about Bach … it's my song," Myself said bravely.
"Thhhheeennn, ADD ANOTHER NOTCH! Or some innocent fool that you don't know … dies," sang Moriarty.
Mycroft looked away. Sherlock put his face in his hands. John shut his eyes tight with his fists still clenched.
Puzzle pieces were coming together.
I gripped my hair. The headache was getting worse.
"Then another notch it is then," Myself breathed. Moriarty grew disappointed.
"Oh no no no, it's too easy! Its too easy!" he retorted and laughed.
"NO SHIT!" Myself screamed from the floor.
They all returned their gazes to the screen.
"It's easy for you, not for me. No wonder you are bored … ALL … the TIME … " Myself mocked him from the floor, "You do this to yourself. There's probably no one out there that you are going to kill … it's just an empty threat, but I can't be sure … and that's the point. That's the whole point. What advantage does your apathy really grant you? You have … nothing, NO ONE, nothing will EVER satisfy you … and maybe you REALLY don't care. But in my eyes, you are weak, and pathetic, and lifeless … and I feel sorry for you," myself said carving another calculated mark into my arm. Moriarty did not look pleased.
'Stop it,' I mouthed. I was shaking.
"What was that! Can't quite hear you love!" called Eurus.
Another.
Some men dumped my body in Eurus' cell.
I could hear Mycroft gagging.
"Oh my god," said John quickly while staring at the screen.
Sherlock was frozen, but I could sense his blood boiling.
My body was mangled and bruised … There was blood everywhere, especially around my head. Scars were on my hand and arms.
"What did you do?" said a horrified Eurus in the video. She rushed over to me. My body started to violently shake.
I could hear the horrible, convulsing noising coming from the video.
'Stop it,' I mouthed. My hears were ringing.
"For God's sakes! Turn IT OFF!" yelled John. He tried to approach her, but she pointed the gun at him.
"Nearly there," she said calmly.
In the video she held me tight. Blood stained her white clothes. She touched my face.
"What did he do to you?" she said crying. She looked directly into the camera now.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" she shrieked.
Everything went mute around me. I couldn't hear any outside noises, no video, no Eurus, no Mycroft, no John, no Sherlock. I could only hear the one in my head, and it belonged to Moriarty.
"What's wrong? Not talking to me anymore? Come on … solve it, go on now," he said in his voice that was way to happy for his own good.
"Go on West Wind … Gentle Breezzzze … put all the pieces back together," he said in a whisper as if he was alive, right next to my ear. My eyes flew open. I received an exploding dose of adrenaline.
"STOP IT!" I screamed jumping up off the bed.
They turned around in the direction of the cell.
My heart rate was racing and my breathing was heavy. Eurus paused the video. I looked at it, shaking. I was a bloody mess in the video, but Eurus was frozen in a scream cry, holding me. I put my hand to my mouth.
"Zephyr?" asked Sherlock softly as he approached me. He was on the other side of Eurus' cell where I once stood. He looked like he was going to cry. I scrunched my face in a grimace.
"Do you remember, Zephyros? Have you put the pieces back together again," she asked me lowering the gun. I released my face to look at her.
"Stop it! Haven't you done enough!" said John angrily. Eurus clicked another button on the remote. Several holes opened up on the walls. He backed away.
"Not yet, the story isn't over, and I promise you, you don't want to be asleep for the end," she said gesturing towards the tranquilizer guns in the walls. He shot a very fierce death stare at her. Eurus went over to the compartment where she would pass me things and put the gun inside. It clicked open on my side.
"What are you doing?" Sherlock demanded.
"Giving her the final piece," said Eurus. I looked at her suspiciously.
"Eurus stop this," said a very squeamish Mycroft, "You don't have to do this." She glared at him.
"Yes. Yes I do," she said angrily.
"WHY?" demanded John.
"Because she is my friend. Wouldn't you do anything for your friend, Dr. Watson," she said to him.
"I don't think you know what that word means" he hissed at her.
"You would save them, no matter what, right?" she answered quickly. Then, she turned her attention to me with kind eyes and approached the cell.
"He wanted me to break her you know, change her. I thought I nearly did. People are so breakable, but then I realized she was playing the game. She actually, played with me … You talked to me … You saw through me," she said touching the glass. I approached the glass and put my hand where hers was. My eyes watered. "She was my friend," she said smiling. I could see actual tears forming in her eyes. "Until I discovered the truth," she said dropping her smile.
"And what truth was that?" asked Sherlock.
"I figured it out, Moriarty's dirty little secret," she said angrily, "He beat you … he beat you so badly … he got angry … he lost," Tears flowed down her cheeks. Water was forming around my eyes.
"What was his secret?" said Sherlock coming closer to the glass.
"Please don't me angry with me," she whispered to me. I stared at her intently.
"Eurus, what was his secret?" Sherlock said losing patience.
"Who she was, who she REALLY was," she said finally with a cracking voice. My eyes grew wide and I backed away from the glass. John sighed and put his hand to his head. Sherlock closed his eyes tightly.
"Who … IS SHE, Eurus," demanded Sherlock.
"I sent her to you … I gave you all the clues, and you still didn't see it, even now," she said backing away from the glass so it was just me and Sherlock. Sherlock kept his eyes shut, trying to remember, Miss me? Zypher, Zypheros, God of the West Wind, dressed in his clothes, no fingerprints, gentle breeze, Moriarty, a custom violin, drawings, a soldier, a detective, a friend, a puzzle …
"The man who sees through everything ... is exactly the man who doesn't notice ... when there's nothing to see through," breathed Eurus. John and Mycroft came closer to the cell.
"Oh my god," he could hear John say. Sherlock's eyes flew open. He turned towards John.
"That's not possible … " gasped Mycroft.
"What, what is?!" Sherlock asked. He was getting so frustrated, his eyes watered.
"Who's going to kill her, Sherlock?" asked Eurus. He whipped his view back to me, back to the cell. I looked at him through my reflection in the glass. My eyes grew wide in agony. I thought my heart stopped. Tears fell down my face. He looked at me. "What's wrong, Zephyr?" he said very concerned. I walked over to the open compartment and grabbed the gun.
"Zephyr, what are you doing?" he said touching the glass. I put the gun to my head.
"Zephyr, Wait! We can figure this out! I promise you!" he said. Tears streamed down my face.
"I already have …" I said with a cracking voice. He froze at the sound of my actual voice, the same one that was in all the videos. The same one that was on the phone.
His breathing was rapid.
"Why can't you?" I choked.
"What?" he said exasperated. Mycroft looked at me speechless in disbelief. John put his hand over his mouth. His eyes watered.
"Sher … Sherlock," John choked. He could barely speak.
"The only one who can save her, is you, Sherlock. Solve her to save another. Save her, from herself, don't you understand?" said Eurus not understanding why he couldn't get it.
"Who is going to kill me?" I breathed. He stared at me intensely. I could see him scanning me rapidly.
"How can I draw … a man .. whom I've never … seen?" I sobbed. The gun was firmly against my head. My finger on the trigger. Time slowed down. The blood in his veins froze. His eyes flickered wide. All the pieces fell into place. He focused on his own reflection in the glass to look at me. He saw fresh tears spilled over his face in the reflection.
"You look … in a mirror," he said quietly.
"And heeeere it comes," whispered a sad Eurus.
"Who am I?" I asked him.
"Zephyr … Zephyros Holmes … You're my daughter."