Magic One Shots (Sherlock BBC Fic)
AN – this is basically a dumping point for all the one shot cracktastic stuff that the magic verse threw up but didn't fit into the two fics. Also, it's an excuse to torture Mycroft.
Warning – slash, established relationship. This holds for all the chapters.
Disclaimer – characters and settings as depicted in BBC series (or any other established setting) are not mine. No money being made. Plot is mine.
Egg Hunt
AN – Madness! Dribbling, babbling, madness! (Set after Playing with Fire)
It wasn't often that people came to Baker Street to consult the Mage, but now that Dimmock and her husband knew where John lived, Sherlock supposed he should have expected something like this to happen, which is how he and Lestrade came to be involved in one of the weirdest egg hunts he'd ever heard of.
The witch and wizard had arrived not long after Lestrade – yet another of his and John's weekly 'night at the pub' – and had taken John into the kitchen with urgent looks on their faces. Words like 'spawning cycle', 'largest I've ever seen,' 'egg clusters', 'catastrophe', 'destroy all life in London in a week' were bandied about and John had come out of the kitchen looking grim.
"We're going too," Sherlock had insisted and Geoff had braced himself for the mother of all rows – because this sounded like it was exactly the sort of situation that required the mage to leave his lover behind and that had not gone over well the last time. John had hesitated and glanced at Geoff, who gave his best 'determined to come along' mulish look, and then gave in. He'd insisted on them both wearing protection and following instructions, which Sherlock had shockingly agreed to without any argument at all and they had all bundled into Dimmock's Nissan Micra – Sherlock's knees had been around his ears – and headed out to a derelict factory in Dagenham.
Once there, John had pulled out a sharpie and insisted on drawing Runes on the back of Sherlock and Geoff's hands and forehead. He'd added a dab of blood from his thumb to each of the forehead Runes and then told everyone that it was their job to destroy the eggs, while he dealt with the thing that was laying them. Mrs Dimmock had issued them with buckets and paintbrushes made out of straw, instructed them in the Rune they were to paint on the surface of each egg they discovered and then everyone had followed John into the factory.
He'd gone up to the top floor to deal with whatever was sliding-scraping-squelching around up there and the rest of them had split up to deal with the faintly luminescent eggs that clung in clusters to every surface. They were giving off a particularly vile odour as they sat their glowing, and once the Rune was painted on them and they started to dissolve the smell did not improve at all. Had Geoff been one for bemoaning his fate, he'd definitely have been complaining that this had not been in his plans for Friday night: running around with a witch, wizard and fellow protectorate, graffitied with Runes that were definitely tingling now and giving off a purple-ish glow, painting eggs that had nothing to do with Easter and smelled vile with a homemade paintbrush and something that looked a bit like rotten milk. Luckily there were only a few intact clusters of eggs left, so his patience wasn't being stretched to the absolute limit yet.
The noises upstairs were definitely reaching a crescendo of sorts, which made concentrating difficult. There was dust and other small debris falling from the ceiling now as the action heated up and Geoff noticed a marked increase in the tingling feeling his Runes were giving off. At the same time, Sherlock shouted in wordless alarm and the cluster of eggs that Geoff had been heading for began to glow. Dimmock and Dimmock yelped and bolted towards Sherlock and Geoff and some instinct prompted the protectorates to grab the young DI and his missus, standing behind them and locking their hands around their respective middles.
"Sir, let go," Dimmock struggled in Geoff's grip, but he tensed his arms and refused. Moments later there was a green pulse of light from each egg cluster washing over all four of them, leaving them unharmed even though Dimmock and Dimmock yelped and tried to duck.
"The Runes are protecting us all!" Alice Dimmock sounded astonished.
"Can you cast through the spell without destroying it?" Geoff replied even as Sherlock muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'no shit'.
The witch and wizard tested this idea cautiously, and when John's protection held they began casting vigorously, taking the simple yet messy solution to their problem of exploding the now furiously buzzing and pulsing egg clusters with destructive bolts of magic. Sherlock was interested – and vaguely put off – to discover that Alice Dimmock smelled like cinnamon and baking bread when she cast.
The noise above them became ear-splitting and for a moment, Geoff swore the ceiling bowed sharply, as if it had been hit by a very great weight from a very great height, and then everything went quiet. The egg clusters were gone from where they stood and Geoff and Sherlock cautiously let go of their unwitting partners. Footsteps on the stairs announced John's return from his battle and something in the darkness skittered on too many legs away from them. Before the witch or wizard could react a bolt of purple flame sizzled across the space and hit whatever it was, causing it to shriek in agony even as it burnt to ashes. Geoff had only a glimpse of it and was pleased not to see more clearly.
"I hate it when you do that," Sherlock complained as John came into view, looking very pale with dark smudges under his eyes.
"Did you get all of the eggs?" John asked, ignoring his partner's complaint. Geoff noticed the Rune on Sherlock's forehead was gone: a glance at the backs of his own hands showed that those Runes had also faded away.
"We think so," DI Dimmock replied, "We'll do another sweep to be sure, sir."
John nodded and let Sherlock gather him close, leaning with a sigh against his lovers side. Sherlock's hair was wilder than ever and even Geoff felt a little dishevelled with the activities of the last hour. He pulled his phone out and called for a cab, making arrangements to meet a couple of blocks down.
"Call the Chinese place, too," Sherlock instructed, "We can pick up the order on the way back to Baker Street."
"Not the night out that we had planned, Geoff," John grinned in a tired fashion. Geoff grinned back.
"You do take me to interesting places," he replied, "I'll see you at work Dimmock."
The three men fell into step and began to bicker over precisely what should be in their dinner order.
End (for now…)
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