Consequences

I sat there and watched Sherlock run around like a little child, barely saying anything. The first thing he did when he heard my cry was run up the stairs, take one look at the message and then run straight down again to shout questions at a rather startled Mrs Hudson. After that he came back up again and did nothing but pace, every now and then when he had a sudden idea he would lean out the still open window and gaze around, as if the messenger was still there. This was something I often saw Sherlock do when he was on a case, but he always remained frustratingly mute on these occasions. I kept on trying to ask him questions about what was happening, what did he know, who was it, but he continued to ignore me.

I tried to keep calm, but the writing on the wall had given me a shock and it was still glaring at me, I knew the symbols were telling me that I was going to become a dead man, right when I thought everything was over.

I remember seeing this writing before, quite clearly, even though I'm sure it must have been a long time ago. At first not even Sherlock knew what it meant, but it struck fear into the heart of whoever saw the message, and then whoever the message was meant for died pretty quickly afterwards. We got too close looking for those responsible, the Chinese gang Black Lotus, and Sherlock came home one day to find out a message had been left to tell him I was soon to be a dead man. Fortunately we had got away, but it was close, and now they've come back.

The trouble is, I've changed my mind; I've decided that I don't want to die anymore. I may have tried to take my own life a few weeks ago but now I prefer living, I don't want to go. Just as I start feeling like I was living my life and becoming me again, someone wants to take my life from me, or Sherlock's, or both of us.

I really don't want to die, and Sherlock still isn't answering any of my questions!

In the end, I came to the end of my tether.

"Stop it Sherlock!" I suddenly snap at him, just as the consulting detective was about to start another round of pacing, muttering to himself like a madman. He finally seemed to notice I was there, and stopped moving. "You need to tell me what's going on," I said to him, sounding breathless as if I had just run a mile. "You have to tell me why that writing has appeared on the wall, you have to tell me why someone has done this instead of running round in circles saying nothing. You have to tell me how we can get out of this, because I don't want to die anymore. I've changed my mind." My voice started to crack and I had started to shake, I tried to take deep breaths.

"There's no need to panic John," Sherlock said surprisingly calmly.

Unfortunately, this did not calm me down, but rather enrage me further. "I'm not panicking! You're the one who's running around like a dog chasing it's tale and leaving me in the dark!"

There was a slight pause, where Sherlock looked a little guilty and was trying to think of what to say. But I had started working things out for myself.

"This is because of you, isn't it Sherlock?" I said, pointing at the writing on the wall. "Something you've done that's made these people come back. What have you done?"

Sherlock sighed, but to my relief sat down, he couldn't look at my face though. "You've never really thought about why I might have pretended to take my life and not tell you the truth, have you?" He muttered.

"You never told me," I pointed out.

"But you didn't think about it," Sherlock repeated bitterly, and he was right, I had never really taken time to consider why he might have done such things in the first place. By the look on his face, this was actually quite difficult for Sherlock. "Moriarty told me…if I didn't kill myself, then he would kill my friends. He had assassins planted everywhere, and if I didn't die then they would kill you, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson. I didn't have much of a choice, I couldn't let any of you die."

I stared at Sherlock. Why hadn't he told me any of this before? If I had known that he had faked his death to save others, perhaps I would have forgiven him. I would have done the same thing if I was in that situation. No wonder he hadn't made contact with anyone else, because they were in danger if he did, he only came back because I would be dead otherwise. Now the consequences of this have come back to bite us.

Sherlock suddenly jumped back up and started pacing again. "Now one of them must have found out that I'm still alive and living here, so they've come to finish the job. But it's going to be fine-"

"I'm still not sure how it's going to be fine." I pointed out. I had a feeling Moriarty's people were not ones to easily give up and walk away.

"Because there's only one of them." Sherlock explained almost brightly.

"Who's them?" I asked.

"Moriarty told me there were three assassins, one each for the victims who would fire simultaneously if I did not die, but this time there has only been one assassin, the one who's left a warning for us. Mrs Hudson claims she hasn't encountered any trouble or mysterious graffiti, and I think it would be on the news if someone had attempted to assassinate a Scotland Yard detective. Of course it's been months since Moriarty died and I faked my death, so the assassins would have assumed their job was done, gone home, and the criminal organisations who depended on their consulting criminal may well have weakened and broken down since then, so it is understandable that there are hardly any assassins left. Unfortunately there is one person loyal enough to finish off Moriarty's dirty work, and they've found out I'm still alive. When they're done with us they'll move onto Mrs Hudson and Lestrade, unless we stop them first."

I tried to think about how Moriarty's men could have possibly found out that Sherlock was still alive, was there someone still loyal enough to actually spend their time watching the house? If so, they would have spotted him around the house, possibly talking to Mrs Hudson, watching the television, pushing me out the door to go for a walk. Maybe he was seen when he went to see Harry, so now they know he's alive and want to finish the job. I really hope none of this is my fault, I've caused enough trouble, he only came back to save me, and now our lives are in danger once again.

Sherlock managed to calm down enough to sit down during this short silence where I considered my thoughts. "They want to play games with us John," he said quietly. The panic must be showing on my face still, even though I had relaxed a little more, as he was speaking to me very calmly again. "That's why they broke into the house and left the message on the wall. They had no need to, they could have taken the opportunity to attack us when they broke into the house, as we had no idea we were in any danger, but instead they left us a warning. The Black Lotus must have changed their code by now, but the assassin has used them again because we'll know what it means. This person wants to get us scared before they cut us down, he's playing the games that his boss used to love."

"When will they attack again?" I asked slowly, trying to distance myself from the situation, trying to think rationally and logically.

Sherlock shrugged, "it shouldn't be too long, after seeing the message we could try to make a run for it, so the assassin must strike quickly before we can. It will probably be tonight, or tomorrow night, when it's quiet and dark to catch us unawares and limit the number of witnesses."

I wish I hadn't asked. This did not help the situation. "How are we going to stop this person then, with such little time?" If this assassin was from the Black Lotus, we had seen those people at work, they were very clever and very dangerous, we know they would stop at nothing. What could we do to defeat them? We couldn't even run, they would find us in the end.

A sly smile spread over Sherlock's face, and his eyes gave a mischievous glitter, one he always had when he got an idea. "We will have to defeat them by playing our own game."

I found this chapter a little tricky, but I hope it was all right! :)

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