I apologise for the shortness of this chapter- I dislike how it turned out. It's also currently unbeta-ed so I apologise for any mistakes :)

CHAPTER 6

Arthur had to admit, Merlin he could see why Merlin appeared to idolize his older brother's deductive skills. It would have taken Arthur, who considered himself to be reasonably clever, a lot longer to have even begun to rule out locations, and he never would have gotten it down to two locations. The only question was-

"How do we know which location Moriarty has gone to?"

"We don't," replied Sherlock, "Not at this point anyway. The fastest way to find out is to check."

"But how are we going to get out of here, the door is still locked."

No sooner had Arthur uttered those words, there came a knocking on the other side of the door, before the definitive sound of the lock clicking open.

"It appears my team have finally cracked the lock," Mycroft said smugly.

"Or Moriarty has decided to let us go," John noted.

"Either way, we should set off for Cornwall immediately," said Arthur. "Let's go find Merlin."

The car journey to Cornwall was long and arduous, tension filling the remaining hours of day. It was now late at night, the only sound filling the car being Arthur's loud snoring, which jolted John out of his own slumber. He rubbed his sleep filled eyes and noticed that Sherlock was still awake, his gaze fixed to the window.

"Sherlock, are you ok?" asked John quietly, not wanting to disturb the others.

"Of course I am John, why wouldn't I be," the detective replied curtly.

"Oh I don't know, perhaps because your youngest brother has been kidnapped by an evil psychopath, and in less than two days time could be killed!"

"Your point being?"

John sighed. "Why didn't you tell me about Merlin?"

"Why would I need to?" replied Sherlock, although a pointed look from John made him sigh. "We had an argument a few years ago, where I called him boring."

"What else did you say Sherlock, I know that's not the full story."

"I-", he hesitated. "I told him no one would ever want to be his friend, and a few weeks later I left home. He had tried to be normal to prevent bullying from his peers, and I ridiculed him and ignored him for it. I didn't tell you about him because I worried you would want to meet him, and I just know he will never forgive me," finished Sherlock, rare flickers of emotion filtering through his usual stoic mask.

"Oh Sherlock you moron," John said softly, leaning over to rest his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "From what I saw, Merlin forgave you a long time ago. Would have he have been so upset by your death if he hadn't?"

"Social protocol states that when one dies one's family should-"

"Social protocol also states you don't reveal a person's history the first time you meet them or kidnap people to convince them to spy on your brother. Holmes' don't do social protocol. Not even Merlin. He cares for you."

"Do you really think he's forgiven me?" asked Sherlock, his voice very much sounding like he dared not hope to believe it.

"Of course I do Sherlock, I wouldn't tell you if I didn't."

There was a pause. Then-

"Have you forgiven me yet John?"

John paused, truly thinking about the question. "Not yet," he said, and Sherlock's expression became crestfallen. "But given time, I believe I will." Sherlock looked pleased again and in a heat of the moment feeling, John pulled Sherlock into an awkward hug.

"You know, I would assume you two were together if he wasn't such an arse and you weren't straight," mumbled a sleepy Arthur, who John realised must have awoken to see the two men whispering and cuddling.

"You know, I could say the same thing about you and Merlin."

"You won't believe the amount of times our friends have said that," Arthur smiled, but it was strained and tainted with sadness.

"We will find him, alive and well," John said softly, before trying to get back to sleep. He almost didn't hear what Arthur muttered next.

"I know."

There was a slight pause.

"I just really miss the idiot."

Hello again. I apologise for the fact that this chapter is only 700 words, I really wanted to end it though on that bit. I promise the next chapter will pick up more :) on another note one of my guest reviewers complained about the way I portray Merlin and want to see more of his intelligence. Merlin does not feature as much in this story, he is the centre of the sequel though, and I promise you will see a new side of him then. Well done to those of you who have been predicting what will happen near the end- some of you are very close. I'm currently writing chapter 8 and can now tell you I am almost 99% certain this will be ten chapters long... I think! :) A big thanks to my reviewers; feathered moon wings, Lady Ningrum, Sabha and Me Who Else :)

I'm really hoping to make it to 40 reviews by my next update, so perhaps I'll hold this story hostage until that point...

I kid, but seriously guys 6 reviews one week? Please let's try and make it happen :)

I'll stop rambling now, thanks to everyone who reads this and I'll see y'all next week (hopefully with 40 reviews... Or more! :) )