A/N: This chapter solely revolves around The Great Game. A small warning though. The sequence may not be in order and I may have omitted somethings of the plot. Major warning for some torture here! If you wish to skip it, I will mention where it will start and end so that you may have the choice to skip it.

John was a little pissed off at Sherlock. He had been on the run like a mad man around this guy who kept on giving crimes to him, not caring about the victims that were captured a single bit. Always stating that "Caring is not an advantage" constantly.

It was true, the one who had sent the puzzles must be a true genius, rivaling Sherlock in his brains to keep all of Sherlock's attention on the puzzle as he was one who never backs down from this type of challenge.

But John could control himself only a little before he snapped. And snap he did. He had this whole outburst on how Sherlock did not care about the victims' life and when Sherlock replied with his caring is not an advantage, it made John even more angry and listed out every person he had cared about before leaving the house quietly, so as to not to alert Mrs. Hudson.

Well... it turned out to be a huge mistake for John as the minute he left the flat and turned to an alley to clear off his mind, he was ambushed and drugged and taken away to some place.

When John woke up, groaning at the huge head ache from the drugs and the first thing that hit was the smell, the smell of huge loads a chlorine. 'Must be near a swimming pool then' John thought as he opened his eyes and it indeed confirmed his suspicions as he could clearly see that he was in a swimming pool changing stall.

He tried to move but that was when he noticed that he had been chained to the ceiling, arms spread out, shirt ripped off his body though there were nothing else that seemed to indicate that he had been hurt.

He tried to struggle against the chains to break free, only for it to clang around loudly, successfully managing to bring whoever had kidnapped him in front of him. "Seems like someone is eager to start the party!" he said as he switched on the lights, allowing John to recognise him.

"Jim? Molly's boyfriend" John asked, just wanting to confirm that he was seeing the right thing. "Ah! How rude of me not to introduce myself Johnny boy. James Moriarty at your service" he introduced himself with a small bow, causing John to frown.

"I've been waiting for this moment for long Doctor Watson. From the day you led that solo mission that almost destroyed my terrorist ring." Moriarty said as he circled John, who gave out no emotion at the man who was circling him.

He then mentioned to someone who had apparently been on standby nearby to pull up the chains, the sudden movement causing John to strain his bad shoulder, barely biting back the scream that was about to escape him.

"It was a luck that we were hanging around the place you raided on the last mission and by sheer luck, got the shot that damaged your shoulder, causing you to retire. From then on, I've been eagerly waiting to meet you again and seems like my luck hasn't run out as I am meeting you here today." Moriarty said as he came to a stop in front of John.

John scrunched up his face, slightly bracing for the pain that he thought would come if Moriarty was about to do what he thought he would do, which was exactly what he did. He lifted his hand to touch the bullet wound, slightly stroked it before leaving it and backing away.

He made his way to the nearby table that John had not noticed before, a table that held all the torture weapons. "It is time to start the party" he said as he giggled out loudly with an evil glint in his eyes.

(Warning: Torture starts here)

John shuddered at the look Moriarty gave, who was currently looking at the tools laid out at the on the table, running a hand over each and every thing until his hand stopped at a wicked looking whip which was a lot of whips with metal shards on them. Looking at the slight wince John made the moment he set his eyes on it, Moriarty grinned and picked it up.

"Time to teach the bad boy a lesson!" he cackled as he approached John, who was bracing himself for the pain to come. Moriarty didn't disappoint either. He quickly brought down the whip on John's bad shoulder, slicing the wound along with a part of his chest and back open, causing John to give out a muffled scream.

"I think 20 lashes would do for now..." he said and as promised, he stopped after 20 lashes. John was silently crying, breathing heavily as blood flowed from his bleeding back and chest.

"Now that's more like it" Moriarty said as he looked at John as if he was examining his master piece. He then held out his hand to receive some bottle and a pocket knife. Moriarty first threw the bottle at John, like he was using him for target practice, the glass shattering at his back and the liquid pouring out of it, causing the wounds to burn.

"Wouldn't want to wounds to be infected now.. would we?" Moriarty asked, as he approached with the knife. "The loyal dog to Mycroft and Sherlock. I think we need to imprint it somewhere..." Moriarty said as he approached John's other shoulder and raised the knife.

"I think that would be a nice spot for the drawing... wouldn't it?" he asked and started carving something on the shoulder, causing John to scream loudly. "That is more like it." Moriarty said as he continued carving, occasionally slapping John awake.

"And done." he said and stepped back to admire his artwork, a MH and SH with a heart around it. "The perfect tattoo for the loyal dog. Now I guess it comes to the finishing touches." he said as he extended the hand to receive a lighter.

"A final tattoo to remind you of our lovely time." he said darkly as he lowered down John's pants and boxers, leaving him completely naked. "That is a lovely ass you have there John. Pity, I can't do that to you. I would've enjoyed it. But maybe I can do this." Moriarty said as he heated the knife in his hand.

John shuddered at the feeling of Moriarty doing that to him and screamed out hoarse when he felt the searing hot pain in his inner thigh from the burning knife. Soon, there was a branding on John's thigh with the letters JW along with a circle around it, finally letting John become unconscious.

(Warning: Torture part over)

The next time he woke up, he was still hazy from blood loss and pain but managed to hold on and stand up, noticing the bomb jacket around him. 'The final riddle was me apparently' John thought as he heard a voice in his ear asking him to get outside and speak whatever he was told to speak.

John didn't want to comply to the voice but grudgingly did so, trying to bite down the pain from where the jacket pressed upon his skin. He noticed that he was wearing fresh clothes and all his wounds had been cleaned out, suspecting that Moriarty didn't want Sherlock to know about it right then.

It hurt John to see the look of betrayal on Sherlock's face when he came out of the stall. He sent a look of hatred to Moriarty whenever he could, trying to hide the look of pain that flashed whenever he was slapped on his back.

Soon, the whole conversation was over and Sherlock was starting to suspect that something had happened to John in the 6 hours he had gone missing. While going out, Moriarty discreetly activated the bomb, that did not go unnoticed by John.

Ignoring his pain, he pushed Sherlock into the pool with all his effort, just in time for the bomb to set off. John felt himself being pulled down by an extra weight, and saw that Sherlock had been hit by a piece of debris and was currently unconscious.

Not wanting his friend to drown and die, he pulled up Sherlock to the surface and pushed him outside the pool with great effort, at the same time felt his conscious fade away and he closed his eyes against his will, his hands slipping off the edge.

Not long after, Sherlock regained consciousness, his head throbbing loudly as he woke up. He woke up just in time to see John sinking into the pool that was blood red. He immediately dived in and pulled John out, checked his pulse the moment he was on ground, finding none.

He desperately tried to remember CPR, he really did but with the huge concussion and the scrapes here and there, he was having a hard time concentrating. He tried to put as much force as he could behind each pump he did but he barely got the result.

Sherlock was soo frustrated that he had nearly cried out in relief and frustration when the police and medics reached there, thanks to the message he sent to Lestrade earlier and Mycroft bringing in the medics. Soon, Sherlock and John were rushed to the hospital, Sherlock never leaving the side of John before passing out from exhaustion.

Sherlock then woke up two days after the whole pool fiasco, the first thought was about how John was. He immediately got out of bed, not caring about the dull throbbing that was still there and enquired about John to the passing by medics.

Soon, he ran into Mycroft and demanded to see John that very instant, only to be pacified by Mycroft, who thought that he could not take it to see how John was in his current state but managed to fill in how Mycroft was connected to John previously when he asked why Mycroft was so concerned about John, though he left out the part of Tony being there with them.

It was only after two days that Sherlock got to see John when he woke up and was horrified at the sight in front of him. The body was littered in scars, but the most prominent ones were the carving and the branding that nearly brought Sherlock to tears.

But the look John gave to him when he opened his mouth to say that he was sorry for all this was soo hard that Sherlock didn't say anything. "Do not apologise for that. He has had this grudge on me for a long time and acted on it through you. So it is not your fault." John stated clearly.

"But I should've noticed it sooner John. I didn't notice that you were hurt sooner. Or we could've escaped sooner!" exclaimed Sherlock. "And that wouldn't have happened as he wouldn't have let us go. He did have snipers to shoot and a bomb if we tried to do it Sherlock. So again, not your fault. And it was covered well.. I can give you that" John said.

Apparently this had satisfied Sherlock and they both stayed silent for a while before Sherlock said "So... you took in four bullets for my brother.", startling John at the sudden statement. "Well... I did take it for him as I was rescuing him. I would've probably been dead if not for the bullet proof vest." confessed John.

"I am glad that I had met you." confessed Sherlock and they stayed together till John was discharged and allowed to go home after most of his injuries had healed very well. He would have many scars and nightmares but the most important thing was that both Sherlock and himself were alive.

A/N: That was chapter 6. I know, it killed me to write this chapter but I had to do it for the plot. I am usually not this type of a writer and this is my first time so.. yeah. Hope you all liked it though. All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated.

The next chapter will consist of The Fall and maybe some things before that and then the main plot begin. And... I was thinking on whether to combine Captain Spark No Wait Stark? with this story. If you haven't read it, please read it and comment.

Thank you all for reading!

Rasi10 signing off

Published on 11 August 2018