"Ultra Infirmitatibus Meis"
Chapter 2
"Final Solution."
Warning: The author of this fic does not like Eurus. Fans of this character are advised to proceed with caution as she will not be treated kindly in the following chapters. You have been warned.
She knew it was him even before the door opened.
He always came to check up on her whenever he could, that older brother of hers.
The Iceman mask firmly in place, eyes cold and impassive.
But she could always look through it, could see what he was trying so desperately to hide.
The enormous guilt…
The overwhelming sense of responsibility…
And the crushing feeling of having failed his entire family.
She saw it.
Despite the walls he built…she saw it all.
And was willing to use it against him, even turning it into a little game of making the infamous IceMan melt right before her very eyes. Because despite all that power he wields… all that intelligence his mind contains, he's still just a small boy who failed to protect his little sister from her own toxic mind.
A failure Eurus will never forgive him for.
'He did his best.' Was a phrase her little brother often communicated to her through their little violin concerts, whenever he visited.
'No.' Eurus would respond, using high pitched notes to show her displeasure and anger. 'Because if Mycroft really was as smart and clever as everyone believes he is, he would have been able to fix this. Fix me.'
Her beloved little brother always stopped playing after that, leaving her alone and giving her another reason to detest her older sibling, as the mention of him is driving the one person she loves most away from her.
The same sibling that was here now. The Homes family's biggest failure sitting in an armchair on the other side of her glass, dressed in his typical three piece suit and holding on to his iconic black umbrella.
Their similar pale blue eyes met and Eurus resisted the urge to smile.
It is time for their little game.
How foolish of him to visit her so soon, his mental defenses weaker than ever, thinking that he'll be strong enough to withstand her emotional manipulation.
A perfectly emotional response of a man trying to prove to himself that he's not affected by his family turning its back on him, or by other people viewing him as a heartless monster.
'Poor, poor Mycroft.' She though, not a sight of sympathy on her pale face. 'All alone against the bloodthirsty vultures.'
The Mycroft she knew would never make such a reckless decision. Especially when he knew his self-control is wavering, and the chance of him getting compromised by her poisonous mind is higher than ever.
Too many lives were at stake…too much responsibility rested on his shoulders, for him to allow himself to become so vulnerable.
And yet here he was…
Sitting in one room with a psychotic killer, completely defenseless…
The perfect equivalent of a deer bearing its neck for the wolf to bite.
Why?
Eurus's blue eyes sparkled in sudden understanding, her brilliant mind piecing the puzzles together.
'They seem to have already broken you enough…' Eurus thought, watching a red eyebrow rise slightly.
'…allow me to make the final push.'
Her brother continued to watch her, unmoved by anything he must be reading from her emotionless face.
Determinated to crack that mask, Eurus tilted her head at the red-haired man.
'Are you ready to play, big brother?' Her eyes seemed to ask.
Mycroft's eyes simply blinked, looking just as interested as he always did before the game began.
Eurus actually smiled.
'Round one.' She thought, before starting her performance.
The trapped woman began looking around her cage, eyes wide in fear and lip trembling with silent sobs. Doing everything she could to look like the little girl he and uncle Rudy banished to this island all those years ago.
This usually made Mycroft flinch. His mind quickly thinking back to the day he first saw her, his beloved little sister, behind this glass wall looking scared and alone, trying to convince his doubting heart that this really was the best option.
It didn't work this time.
Her older brother's face stayed the emotionless mask, eyes blinking blankly at her.
Eurus's eyes slightly narrowed but showed no other sign that something out of place was happening.
'Round one goes to you, big brother.' She nodded her head delicately in acknowledgment of Mycroft's small victory.
Without waiting for him to react, the woman went on to the next phase of her game.
She began to tremble and quietly sob. Her broken voice, though muffled out by the thick glass, was calling out for mommy and daddy. Eurus cried crocodile tears, begging for her big brother to take her home, and promising that she'll be good from now on if only Mycroft takes her back.
Any other day this would crack the mask.
Her brother's eyes would flash with dozens of emotions and, after a while, he would look away. Trying to save what little dignity he had left, and not wanting her to see him so weak.
Not today.
Today he had no such reaction.
He simply watched her with blank, emotionless blue eyes, as if not fully registering anything happening before him.
This time Eurus frowned.
Something was not right about Mycroft.
He wasn't just not reacting like he was supposed to…
He wasn't reacting at all.
After coming closer to the glass barrier between them, she raised a hand and started knocking out a message in the Morse code.
'Brother?'
Once she finished, Eurus watched her older brother's face, trying to spot any kind of reaction from him.
Her efforts were rewarded with an icy glare and a narrowing of fox-colored eyebrows, before his slim fingers knocked back an answer in the wooden armrest.
It was a short message.
One that would normally not be able to invoke such strong feelings of dread and panic in Eurus Holmes.
But this time it did, and by the time Mycroft left the room, she was already screaming.
All the message said…
…was 'No.'