Chapter 3: Beautiful World
John stares at the man in front of him. It isn't even a man, John call calls it a teen, maybe late teens, but not an agent who works on dangerous, possible deadly single missions. Yes, John was young for his rank but he worked hard and ended his study faster than others to become a doctor. But why was a child in this desert?
Finally John comes to and figures out that he should answer the boy ... man. "Yes, right he calls. We should talk in my tent about your role here." Sherlock follows him without a word. The men on guard salute as John, their Captain, leaves.
They arrive at John's tent and he holds it open for the agent to enter. "My brother can be a bit ... annoying. Sorry if he changed everything and you have to make a new plan." Sherlock sounds sincerely sorry so John let this point go. The agent isn't responsible for his brother/apparent boss.
"How old are you?" John has to ask. He is looking into a teenager's face.
"I know I don't look like it, but I turned 18 last month." John's mouth falls open, he really is young, six years his junior.
"Still too young for this. You are right I changed the plan. I wanted to leave tomorrow but I won't take a stranger with me and my men without at least trying to get to know him. The mission starts the day after tomorrow. Don't care what your brother, Mr. Bossy says. You are a liability to my soldiers. That means while we are on the same mission, you will listen to me. You will follow my orders and you will help out in the camp. Including the night guard. Understood?" John let the last word sound like a question it really isn't.
"Yes, understood." Sherlock seems not to care in the slightest when they leave or that he has to help out.
"Now tell me as much as you can about the mission you are here for and using us as cover." Sherlock looks at him with a strange spark in his eyes.
"Your clearance isn't high enough. Before you ask, you are missing at least seven steps to get close to it." He sounds apologetic but that isn't helping.
"Fine. You will sleep here tonight. We didn't plan on a guest." John could see that Sherlock wants to answer back but it ends in a nod and the agent disappears in the bed John shows him. A blanket appears out of the backpack he was carrying and then he is silent. John gets ready for bed like he wanted before the phone call and falls asleep soon after. He didn't know that his roommate was awake listening to the sound of the Captains breath. He likes the man. The Captain didn't like Mycroft's style, and that was a good start.
The next morning comes and his soldiers aren't really happy about the delay. It means they have one more day to worry but they had prepared everything. The soldiers know their task and how to do it. John watches Sherlock the whole day like everyone else but the agent stays away from the others and they still try to figure out if he is the Holmes of the rumors.
At dinner time, as John gets ready for his night watch, their cook comes to him. "Sir, the new guy doesn't eating." That worries John; Sherlock already looks thin. He takes a plate with Sherlock's ration and walks over to the fire. He was looking at the stars as John places the food next to him.
"Eat." He uses his Captain voice knowing that it would get the best result.
"I'm not eating before a mission, it slows me down." Great, thinks John.
"It isn't a suggestion, It's an order. You will eat, end of it. I don't want some weak teen slowing us down." John takes an apple out of his pocket. One of the last. Fruits aren't really easy to get. Out of the corner of his eye John watches Sherlock eat.
First he looks at every item, shift it on the plate before he takes a small bite. To finish his meal it takes the agent twice as long as any other person.
"You know the food wasn't poisoned." Sherlock looks up, surprised. . He hadn't noticed John watching him and suddenly he is aware of his surrounding again. He hadn't noticed how he let his guard down. Sherlock normally only eats at a safe place where he is sure the food is ok. But John's presence, as the Captain, gives him this feeling, like a safe place. "You were looking at the stars before." John looks up; he doesn't want an answer from the agent. Who knows what he had seen and done to this point. "You will never see this many of them again."
Sherlock looks up, yes the stars are beautiful and he wants to see them one last time but he can't tell this to John, he wouldn't let him go on this mission but he needs to go, he wants to go home one day. "Why are you talking to me so much? It's not your job being nice to me or bringing me food. Normally people avoid me."
"The rumors?" Sherlock nods. "They are true only in the fact that there are two different rumors mixed because of the same name." Sherlock was thinking about Mycroft and him doing leg work.
"But these rumors have been in the air for years. How long have you been doing this and why?" Suddenly Sherlock looks sad. He doesn't want to see the disappointment in John's eyes when he tells him, and he doesn't know why. Normally Sherlock doesn't care what others think. He leaves soon after he arrives at a place. Only the mission counts not the people he meets on the way. John was really seeing him, as a person, Sherlock could read it in his eyes and it was something he could tell.
"I got blamed for something that wasn't really my fault or better I didn't prevent it. It led to the death of someone important and they banned me from the country. The only option I had since that day is taking these missions, survive and do the next. At least they are not boring. But when this one is successful my brother said I could come home." Sherlock didn´t realize how much he had shown of himself but John sees the lonely child that misses home.
"What, let your brother think it was a good idea to send you out here, a probably untrained teen?" When he stands in front of that man he will hit him, John promises.
"I have a special ... I would call it skillset but honestly it's just looking with open eyes, something most people have forgotten how to do." John looks at him questioningly; Sherlock is used to it. "As I arrived I saw that you were the Captain. It wasn't your shift. Your soldiers took you in without questioning; they have a more alert body language with you around. Your body was turned to the road I came from, ready to defend your people and the camp. There are many more signs I can read in people. I know you come of an abusive home, most likely from your father due to alcohol. Your brother is also an alcoholic but you don't blame him." Sherlock ends. Now John will leave.
"That was ... amazing." Sherlock is speechless; did John really listen to him? "Quite amazing, you only got one thing wrong." Sherlock lifts an eyebrow. "It my sister, not brother."
Sherlock smiles, he didn't get hit, John seems fascinated by his ability and he can spend the night in his tent again, in the presence of someone who isn't disgusted by him. "You see I'm only good at solving puzzles and doing impossible things." Sherlock doesn't see the sad look in the Captains face; his eyes wander back up to the stars. A beautiful sight in a sick world that has many pretty sights to offer when someone is open enough to look for them.