Chapter 5.
The Doctor glanced around the empty room. It seemed so empty, so lifeless. He looked over at Sherlock who was clearly trying to hide whatever emotions he was feeling. The Doctor went over to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulders.
"It'll be ok Sherlock."
"No it won't. You don't understand!"
"Sherlock." He said as he pulled Sherlock into a hug. Sherlock pushed him away and he landed with a thud on the floor.
"Don't touch me!"
"Sherlock, calm down. It's ok."
"NO IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT OK! Don't you see it? Of course you don't! You may be a inter-dimensional time traveler but you can't see what's in front of your own eyes! Of course you wouldn't realize the true severity of the situation. What with your fun loving personality. You don't know what it's like! You don't understand what it's like to lose something so important from your mind, do you Doctor?" He spat.
"Sherlock, I understand more than you might think. I've lost so much, more than you could ever imagine."
"No, that's the thing isn't it. You haven't lost all that because it was never there to begin with. You're just a fictional character, you can't be here. You can't understand. Just get out!"
"Sherlock, think about what you're doing."
"I always think, and I want you out!"
"Too bad, I'm not leaving."
"Then I'll leave."
Sherlock turned his back on The Doctor and swaggered off down the hallways of his mind palace. The Doctor leaned back against a wall and said to himself "Well that could've gone better."
He watched Sherlock walking down the hallway. He couldn't let him leave, not like this. He quickly but stealthily followed Sherlock done the shrinking hallways.
Sherlock keep walking. He didn't know where he was trying to go, but he kept going. He knew that The Doctor was following him but gave no acknowledgment to the fact. He just wanted to be left alone. He looked through doors as he past them noticing as the rooms emptied.
Mind palaces are funny things, they store everything. Then it hit him. They store everything! There would be memories of people that hadn't been deleted, if only he could find them! He kept going inspecting every door he went past until he finally decided on one.
The Doctor followed him as he entered the room. When he stepped through the door he found himself standing outside on a rooftop. He looked around puzzled as to why he'd be on a rooftop before it clicked. It was this rooftop where Sherlock had done it. Where Sherlock had faked his death to save his friends.
It was strange being in this memory because in every memory but this one there had been two Sherlock's. Why was there only one here.
"Doctor? What are you looking at?"
"It's just, why? Why is there only one version of you here?"
"Because this memory is about to be wiped. The John from here will still play his part, just let me play mine."
"But Sherlock! This is suicide!"
"No, it's not. It'll play out exactly as it did when I first made the jump. I know it will."
"If you're sure..."
"I am."
The Doctor stepped back and watched as Sherlock stepped up onto the ledge. Oh god I hope this works. Neither man knew it but the same thought was running through both of their heads. Sherlock looked down and gulped.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed John's number. John instantly picked up.
"Hey Sherlock, you ok?"
"Turn around and walk back the way you came."
"No, I'm coming in!"
"Just do as I ask! Please."
"Where?"
Sherlock watched as John walked backwards trying to work out where to stand.
"Stop there."
"Sherlock?"
"Now look up, I'm on the rooftop."
"Oh god."
He could hear the weight John's voice carried and felt instantly sorry for him. But he knew he had to go on. Sherlock's mouth was still moving but he could no longer hear the words coming out of it. All he could hear was the sheer desperation in John's voice.
"Nobody could be that clever."
"You could."
He choked out a laugh but the words hung in the air. The words you could felt like ice on his skin. They were mere words but their meaning was just so great they couldn't be ignored. He felt a tear trickle down his cheek as he kept talking. He couldn't stop now.
"This phone call, it's.. it's my note. That's what people do, don't they? Leave a note."
"Leave a note when?"
"Goodbye John."
"No, don't."
He nodded sadly as John begged him not to. But he knew he had no choice. He hung up the phone and threw it over to The Doctor. He spread his arms wide and jumped. The Doctor ran over to the ledge and saw as Sherlock's plan lept into action. He couldn't help grimacing as he heard John desperately cry out the word "SHERLOCK!"
The Doctor ran down the stairs of the roof and onto the pavement where Sherlock's body lay. He knew very well it was just a ruse but he felt sorry for John. John didn't know it was all fake. He watched as John ran over to Sherlock's limp body.
"He's my friend! Let me through."
He felt a tear trickle down his cheek as John took his friends pulse and found none. Suddenly Sherlock was standing beside John, he looked like he wanted to say something, anything to comfort John. But there were just no words to be said.
Suddenly their surroundings began to ripple and they found themselves standing behind a tree in a graveyard. Sherlock looked at the ground and whispered softly "I remember this."
They watched as John approached a grave marked Sherlock Holmes. He lay flowers done on it and cried.
"You told me once that you weren't a hero, there were times I didn't even think you were human. But let me tell you this, you were the best man and the most human human being that i've ever known and no one will ever convince me that you told me a lie. So there... I was so alone and I owe you so much. But please, there's just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle Sherlock, for me don't be stop it, stop this!"
John hung his head in sadness and left. By the time he'd finished his speech The Doctor was in tears. Sherlock just looked ashamed.
"I heard him. I just came back too little too late. He'd gotten on with his life."
"Oh yes! The mustache! I didn't like it. Glad he got rid of it."
"Yeah, it was worse than the death frisbee!"
"I had one of those... worked well as a distraction... did kinda cause a bit of an explosion... oopsie."
Sherlock let out a laugh. "Wait, we had something we needed to do!"
He stood up and brushed any dust or dirt off his coat. He began running after the John who was disappearing into the distance.
"Hey Sherlock! Where are you going? Wait for me!"
"Come on Doctor. We have to go get John!"
"Ok then, Allons-y!"