So sorry for the wait again, guys, I am so bad at keeping up with stuff. It's finally raining today, which is good news for the quality of my writing (I hope). Rain is my muse. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Hope you enjoy this next chapter! It's a bit short, sorry. Review, follow, all that good stuff!
John came up the stairs to his old flat to find Sherlock standing on the coffee table in his blue dressing gown, poring over a bunch of pictures and scraps of information pinned to the wall above the couch. "Sherlock?" John said, hovering by the door.
"But why the apple!" was the only reply, which John took to mean "come in." Sherlock whipped around, clasping his hands in front of his face for a moment before leaping down off of the table and picking up his violin from where it sat on the desk. He picked up his bow and began playing a very fast tune. His music stand was set up next to the desk; Sherlock had probably been whisking back and forth between the violin and the coffee table all night.
John moved to stand by the sofa. He looked at the multitude of information plastered to the wall. "You think Moriarty's reappearance has something to do with an apple."
"Yes of course, he wouldn't just leave it here without a reason! He's meticulous, he wouldn't have chosen something like that without a reason. Apple, apple, why an apple…" Sherlock's bow swished through the air as he spoke.
John turned to look at his friend. He glanced at the mirror on the opposite wall, and something clicked in his brain. "Isn't there an apple in one of those fairy tales… It's Snow White who's got the evil stepmother or something who tries to kill her with a magic apple?"
Sherlock stared at John, his face blank. "Snow White?" he asked.
John blinked back at Sherlock. "You don't know that one?"
Sherlock looked away, exasperated. John knew that look. It was the "no John I don't know it, if I ever did I've deleted it" look.
John sat down on the couch. "Snow White had the stepmother with the magic mirror, the one that always said she was the 'fairest one of all,' but one day it said that Snow White was prettier than her so she went round the bend completely, and sent some hunter to kill Snow White because she'd run off to live with some dwarves, but when the hunter found Snow White he couldn't kill her because she was so beautiful. The stepmother decided she would have to do it and turned herself into an old hag by magic and gave Snow White an enchanted apple that would make her sleep forever." John looked at Sherlock. "Then of course her prince comes and saves the day, happily ever after."
Sherlock sat down in his chair. He steepled his fingers and stared into space. He was in his mind palace. John sighed and went downstairs to talk to Mrs. Hudson. Sherlock would be out of it for a while.
"Oh… Oh! John!" Sherlock jumped up. Mrs. Hudson was in the kitchen taking something out of the oven. She straightened up, closing the oven door.
"He's not here, dear, he left a few hours ago. Your dinner's ready, eat it before it gets cold," she said, bustling out of the flat.
Sherlock stared at the carpet absently. John truly was his conductor of light. Moriarty did love a fairy tale, and one had begun playing out right under Sherlock's nose. Did this mean that Moriarty and Magnussen were connected? It wouldn't be surprising. He had entertained the possibility before, of course, but never as seriously as he did now. Magnussen's dead-eyed stare did liken him to a great hunter – a shark.
Thoughts chased each other round and round Sherlock's brain. If this was Moriarty's intention, to connect everything to this story, what would that mean for John? His friend's face swam to the front of Sherlock's mind. "…An enchanted apple that would make her sleep forever…" His eyes flew open.
"No," he said. If this was the game Moriarty intended to play, would they take John?
So yeah, let me know what you think. I was going for a bit ambiguous, hope it isn't too much. I have been wondering about the significance of the apple for a while, and this is going to be my take on it. I think the actual plot will start in the next chapter. Please please please review, I love reading and replying to them!