While Sherlock may describe it as his Mind Palace - a rather grand name - to him, it is more like a grand mansion. All parts of it do not necessarily mesh all the time, but everything is based on somewhere he has been, or something he has seen.

Everything seemed peaceful as he entered the hallway large wooden double doors and walked down the first hallway. The carpet under his feet was plush and soft, muffin noise, while the walls with their wooden paneling were modeled after his parents' house.

This hallway split off to his right which he knew led to more industrial hallways and rooms where his knowledge of buildings, construction, mechanics and other industrial pursuits were kept. I originally that intersection, Sherlock came to a grand staircase leading both up and down. Down, there were kitchens, blood spatters, and the things most dangerous to Sherlock, locked away in the dungeon. Upstairs, he knew was the corridor he wanted, the one with family and friends, past and present.

It was easy to climb the two flights of stairs, past the solarium where plants and his knowledge of botany was kept, further down until the rooms started to have names on the doors. Names of people closest to him, holding his knowledge about each individual.

Each door looked different depending on who it was as well. Molly looked like the door to the morgue, but decorated in bright colors, Lestrade looked like his office door as well, his brother's door was a thick wooden door the type that would be found at Mycroft's club.

Finally, the detective came to John's door, which made him frown. It was a rather unusual door that seemed to be a bit at war with itself. It looked like a nice door from a home, worn but in the way older homes are, giving you the impression it's lived in and cared for, just aged. The coloring is a different matter, as it seems to be painted in deer chamoflage, the text declaring 'Captain John Watson, M.D.' in plain, military text.

Inside there was also a contrast. Half the room looked like an army medic tent, desert camoflage colors, floor made out of squares of wood the size of palettes to keep the sand out. The other half of the room looked to be a very comfortable livingroom, two big chairs with a table in between facing a roaring fire, the room othwrwise lit dimly. And there sat John, sipping g a mug of tea.

It was not unusual for the younger man to have manifestations of certain people in his Mind Palace. It could be helpful and therapeutic to have someone to talk to, even if it was only his own mind that he was talking to. So seeing John there among other artifacts - things he had learned about John represented by books or objects - was expected.

"John." Sherlock greets as he steps over and sinks down into the chair next to the man, who at the moment was wearing a tan t-shirt and camoflage pants.

"I was wondering when you would make it up here. About bloody time you thought about this seriously." John scolds him, looking over at him before taking another drink of his tea. "You really are hopeless sometimes."

A little surprised by how forward this version of John is being, Sherlock takes a moment to look at him. Right now he seems more of a soldier than the man he has known for the past week, another contradiction in the man's personality that he wants to explore. "Oh?" Sherlock asks, resisting the urge to make a biting comment, since he did come here for answers.

"Good, learning to keep our mouth shut, are we?" John asked in amusement before he looks at Sherlock squarely, blue eyes sparkling with amusement and mischeif. "You are so dense when it comes to emotions. You care for John. It's what people do when they get close to someone, and it's been so very long since you were close to someone, hadn't it?" He asked, watching the detective closely.

"You boarded up those rooms, tried to forget those people, but the scars are still there. You didn't become like this overnight, Sherlock. Maybe you should try and remember University, when you finally started actively avoiding people. It will hurt, you will have to air out some old rooms. But that is what I recommend." The Phantom states, finishing his tea and setting the mug aside, before turning to look into the fire.

That was unexpected. Yes, there were portions of the Mind Palace that he tried to delete unsuccessfully and instead buried them, making those rooms appear to be boarded up and barricaded. But he didn't see what this had to do with John and the current situation. He remembers what happened and why he chose the path of pure intellect. And that doesn't seem to explain his reactions to John, so it merely leaves Sherlock more confused. Slowly, he gets up, sensing that is the only conversation he is going to get out if his mental version of John.

Once outside the room, Sherlock looks down the way he came, then he looks down the other way toward a darker part of the hallway. Determined not to be put off by his own mind, the detective turns and heads toward the darkness, seeing some rooms that are boarded up, and others that are closed up but seem to be leeching their poison into the walls surrounding it, creating darkened spots fanning out like flames charred the wallpaper and wood. It had been so long since he had been down this way that he did not realize this was happening. Darkness was seeping into his Mind Palace. The same darkness that reigned last time he was on a drug binge. Not something he enjoyed, but instead something that worried him a little.

Without taking his eyes off that door, Sherlock slowly backed away, finally turning and swiftly walking back to the staircase, looking down between the two sets of stairs into the seeming darkness below.

Something was wrong here and he had to find out what it was. Yes, Sherlock decided, he would find it and put a stop to it, but first he needed to do some research that could not be done inside his own mind, so he goes down the stairs, exiting the way he came in, and waking up slowly right where he was before. Taking a deep breath, the detective stretches before looking over to where his laptop lays on the desk, getting up to reteieve it and start his research.

He would defeat this problem. Oh, yes. He most certainly would.

I thought about this sort of thing after watching Series 3 again, and I love the idea of his Mind Palace being more tangible than they sort of showed in Hounds of Baskerville. Hope you all enjoy this, I am so happy I got this chapter out more quickly. :) Enjoy!

Reviews/Comments welcome!