Blue numbers
(Part 2 of Death is their gift)
Chapter 1: Meaning of the numbers
Mycroft Holmes is an odd child, very intelligent but a bit strange, at least his father thinks so. His father had married a gifted, he loves her and accepts every part that comes with a gift, that includes having a child that could be gifted too.
His mother often takes him for walks to places no one else goes She tells her child at the young age of four about her gift: seeing the circumstance of someone's death. She never knows when it is going to happen, but how is clear in her mind when she touches a person. After a family tragedy, his mother takes him for another walk. "Mycroft, do you know what happened with your cousin?" The child shakes his head. "His gift was dangerous and people from a facility took him."
"Why?" The child can't imagine his cousin doing something that would cause danger.
"His gift is his voice and the power behind his words. When he tells someone to die, the person will die. He did it by accident you understand. Your cousin didn't mean to hurt someone he didn't know, but now they have taken his voice away." His mother looks sad. Mycroft takes her gloved hand and tightens his grip.
"Mycroft if you have a gift, don't ever tell a soul about it. They will hurt you or use you, it won't be a gift anymore, promise me." The boy feels the fear in his mother's voice and promises her to never tell anyone. Even when he doesn't know if he has one.
Blue, this is Mycroft's favorite color, most likely because he sees it everywhere. He always likes the blue numbers that are floating around people's heads, one reason for his fascination with them. People. He likes to watch them and their number counting backwards. He learned his numbers easy and fast and notices only months later that they go backwards. Not like a watch or during math tables. His father explains to him that when numbers go backwards it's called a countdown. Mycroft asks why people have a countdown over their head. His father doesn't understand the question. His parents can't give him answers, so Mycroft tries to find them himself.
His mother can't help him either but she tries to understand. "Tell me about the numbers." She is pregnant with his little brother or sister and is resting in the living room.
"They are blue, the most beautiful color in the world and they are all different. Some are very long others are really short and father says because they are getting smaller it's a countdown."
His mother lays a hand on her belly. It has grown in the last month. "Have you ever met someone with a zero?" Mycroft has to think about it and shakes his head. He hasn't. "At what rate do the numbers count down?" That is an easy question to answer.
"They go one per second, yours is one of the smallest I have seen in a long time." His mother lifts her hand from her belly. She has a feeling about Mycroft´s numbers, more like she understands the gift her son has and the ability behind it. But she can't help it, she won't tell her son that it is probably the life time left for everyone.
The day his sibling is born should have been a happy one. Mycroft is excited and he really wants to go to the hospital with his parents but he has to stay at home as Father drives Mummy to the nearest hospital.
It takes hours and Mycroft has read every book on his book list for this week, including the really boring one, the ones that count as basic knowledge in children literature. He isn't sure what children find interesting in fairy tales they are all the same, princess in distress or a witch that does something evil or some magical creature. Nothing real, nothing educational.
Mycroft looks out of the window as a car drives up the road. He watches how the black vehicle stops and his father gets out. The second Mycroft wants to run down he notices something odd. His father is alone, no Mummy, no baby sibling. His father looks sad and angry at the same time. Slowly seven-year old Mycroft climbs down the stairs and is greeted by his father.
"Father, where is Mummy?" Mycroft questions and is suddenly pulled into a crushing hug. His father is shaking and the child tries to comfort him without knowing the reason.
As his father collects himself he kneels down in front of him. With teary eyes he tries to find the right words. "Son, your mother isn't coming home anymore. Your little brother either."
"A brother? Did Mummy call him Sherlock like she wanted to and why are they not coming home?" Mycroft tries to push away the thoughts of the meaning behind his father's words.
"Your brother killed your mother as she touched him, he is one of the gifted that is dangerous, they took him and we won't see him again." His father's words are harsh and suddenly Mycroft understands something he has always known deep down in his soul: the meaning of the numbers. His mother's countdown was nearly zero as they left and the feeling he had that he wouldn't see her again was ignored by him in favor of his anticipation for his sibling.
Mycroft is also gifted but no one is supposed to know or they will take him away like his cousin and his baby brother.
… His baby brother who hasn't done anything except being born. In this moment Mycroft decides that he will never talk about the numbers again and that he will find a way to get his baby brother back.
