Chapter 10
"I need to have a word with Merlin Holmes.."
"I'm afraid that the matter is private business..."
"Hi there. The name's Jim Moriarty. You must be Merlin Holmes!"
"He cast you aside the moment he was done playing with you!"
The memories flickered before his eyes, making his brain hurt and bringing him closer to consciousness.
"I mean, think of all the things we could do together. All the crime we could bring, the terror and the thrill swirling around you. Everyone, everywhere, fearing the very mention of your name!"
"Is that Merlin?"
Voices were mixing with the memories as his vision became lighter.
"I need to see how much pain Drug M causes, before I try any of it on myself."
"Merlin! Oh my god, I've found him!"
He started to realise who the voices were, what they wanted.
"God Sherlock there he is!"
John?
"Merlin! Merlin don't worry we'll get you down! Just stay calm."
Was Sherlock with him? Did his brother even care enough to come?
"I always win Sherly, surely you know that by now."
Moriarty.
"No! Merlin! Let him go you... prat!"
Arthur.
And with that Merlin's eyes snapped open, to find himself hanging from his arms, with a bomb strapped to his chest counting down to zero.
As the four men made their way through the maze of crates and ship parts, John opened his jacket and took out his trusty L9A1 aloft. Ever since Sherlock had taken to shooting the walls, it remained in his coat pocket for the sole reason that Sherlock could steal it from anywhere else, and seeing as the last time he had seen Moriarty had resulted in the death, well, faked death, of Sherlock, he refused to take any chances this time.
It didn't look like there was any sign of Moriarty or Merlin though. "Sherlock are you sure we're in the right-"
"Quiet," came the immediate reply. There was something faint coming from the other side of the room, although it was a little too faint to make out.
"There's no one here though Sherlock-"
"Ssh!" the detective responded, flapping his hand in John's face and cocking his head sideways.
John gave Arthur a look that said it all.
"Sherlock, I-"
"Are you a consulting detective who managed to escape death and the smartest man who has ever lived? No, I am! So when I say be quiet please do it, I'm trying to think."
There came a stunned silence for a moment, before Arthur snorted.
"And Merlin says I've got an over inflated ego-"
"Help!"
They all turned towards the now clearly audible sound.
"That's Merlin!" Arthur yelled, running towards the source of the noise.
"Arthur wait we need to- Sherlock what are you doing!"
"I lost my brother once John, I'm not going to lose him again!"
"But we need to think this through! And- oh, just forget it," he said as Mycroft ran past him. "Screw logic," John muttered, turning off the safety cap and running after the others.
"Arthur! Sherlock! Mycroft? Anybody? Wait, what's that? Please get off me! What are you doing?! Stop!"
Arthur sped up although a sense of foreboding and déjà vu plagued the back of his mind.
"Arthur? Arthur, where are you, you prat?"
Wait.
He turned around the corner to find a speaker hooked up to a recorder.
"For fuck's sake!" Arthur yelled, punching the wall. "This is getting really fucking old now!"
"Now, now language my dear!" came a voice from behind him. "My my you really are as stupid as you seem."
"Who are you!" Arthur yelled turning around, trying to pinpoint exactly where the voice was coming from.
"You know that old saying? Fool you once, shame on me, fool you twice shame on you? I know that's not exactly how it goes but really it should do at the rate you're going."
"What is your name!" Arthur said through gritted teeth, his fists clenched with anger as the mysterious voice's location eluded him.
"Arthur, what is it?" John asked, as he and the others finally caught up. "What are you looking for? Wait, is that-"
"Jim Moriarty," came a lilting Irish voice from the shadows, as a figure stepped forward. "Hi!"
For a moment, all was silent. Everyone just stood there, staring at the man who had nearly taken away Sherlock, who had taken Merlin. Jim smirked at them. "Dear dear, cat got your tongues? Sherly darling you're not usually this quiet. Perhaps dying took the fight out of you." John took note of how Sherlock's fists clenched at the mention of the incident that had very nearly cost them their friendship.
Arthur recovered the fastest however. "Where's Merlin?"
"Oh you know what birdies are like, they enjoy being up in the air and feeling the wind flowing through their wings."
"Quit with the games Moriarty, we're not playing this time." Sherlock snapped.
"Temper, temper Sherlock. Besides how are you going to find Merlin without a little game of hide and seek. But seeing as you aren't in the mood to play, I suppose little Merlin will just hang around until the timer stops and then-" Moriarty gestured with his hands, "Poof!"
He began walking away, before turning back around. "Oh, and one tiny little thing, there may be a few... surprises as you go along. Ciao Sherly, catch you around." And with that he was gone.
"Well, that was a bit anticlimactic, wasn't it," Arthur said sarcastically. He turned to Sherlock. "You're the detective, where do you think Merlin is?"
"Weren't you the one doubting him earlier?" John asked.
"Look I know what I said, and I was wrong as much as you were. What happened between Sherlock and Merlin is not for me to argue over. Now all I want to do is get my friend back, before it's too late."
Sherlock glanced at Arthur, the hint of a smile on his face before he turned back towards the way Moriarty had just gone. Moriarty wouldn't just leave, there's no fun in a game you can't see, therefore Merlin is clearly still inside the warehouse and in that direction. Something about his comments plagued Sherlock's mind though. There was no wind in the building, except for up in the roof where the glass from the window panes was missing. Therefore-
"Merlin is somewhere ahead of us, however we need to look up rather than down, I think Moriarty has him held somehow up on the ceiling.
Arthur nodded. "Let's go get Merlin then."
The four men moved with more purpose now that they had a vague location that Merlin could be in. That was until they reached what could only be described as a maze of crates.
"Great, now which way do we go?" asked Arthur.
"Sherlock?" John turned to the detective, who was looking intently at the floor.
Moriarty won't have left any footprints, he's too clever and his shoes too clean to do so. Nothing on either side of the crates to indicate which way is correct. Conclusion- either way could be the right way.
"There's no way of telling which way is right from the data provided. We should split up for optimum coverage."
"Ok, Arthur and I will go this way, you two head left," John said, and before either brother could protest the arrangement Arthur and John were gone.
Minutes passed, and there seemed no sign of the maze letting up. Sherlock and Mycroft walked in silence, neither one looking at the other.
"I know you're still mad at me for my plan Sherlock," Mycroft said plainly, still not looking at his younger brother.
"You know John still won't forgive me."
"He will do soon."
"It's been two years."
They continued walking in silence. "I should thank you though," Sherlock said and Mycroft looked at him curiously. "You kept him safe while I was away."
"Well, I wouldn't want you to get upset at the death of your colleague now would I?" Mycroft replied, before the pair continued looking for Merlin.
"You know, I should thank you as well," Mycroft said. "Perhaps we both had... misconceptions as to how to look after Merlin, but you gave him the attention and love he so craved."
"I told him he was worthless though," Sherlock admitted sadly, his normally hostile composure giving way to evident sorrow for his previous actions as he looked down at his feet.
"Perhaps you were too harsh on him. And perhaps he took bits of it to heart, but the thing that differs between us and Merlin is that he forgives easily. And he had forgiven you a long time ago." Sherlock lifted his head up higher. "He admired you Sherlock in a way I don't think he ever admired anything else. He was devastated by your death."
"I know," said Sherlock, thinking back to the night his younger brother had been about to jump. Internally Sherlock had panicked, but he had outwardly merely shaken his head, logic telling him that Merlin probably wouldn't even believe that he was there. To his surprise, not only had Merlin stepped away from the roof top, he had also shaken himself out of the depressive stupor he had been in.
"-it was also you who inspired him to the point where he is now," Mycroft continued, unaware of the unbidden memories swirling around Sherlock's brain.
Suddenly Sherlock walked into something solid, and they both fell to the floor and as Sherlock picked himself back up he noted that the thing he had walked into was actually a person. John, he thought warmly, so it didn't matter which way we has gone.
"I'm assuming you didn't see Sherlock, judging by the lack of his presence," Sherlock said, grabbing the doctor's arm and pulling him to his feet.
"Nope, what about you?" Arthur asked.
"Oh yes, we found him, we just left him there and decided to continue wondering around," Sherlock replied with a snarky tone.
"Alright Sherlock, no need to get snappy," John said, ever the peace keeper.
Sherlock sighed, then began walking forward through the gap. "I think that's the only apology you're going to get," John said, following after him.
"That was an apology?" Arthur asked Mycroft.
"Try living with that for 18 years," replied the latter, before following the path Sherlock and John had just headed down.
It appeared there was a dock in the shipyard, the water a hazardous murky colour, thick with oil.
"Alright, you head that way, John and I'll go around the other side," Sherlock said, grabbing the doctor's arm possessively before pushing him in the opposite direction to him.
"Hang on a minute, what's that hanging over there?" John asked.
Sherlock's eyes locked in on the object. Long, thin, shorter than I am but slightly taller than John. Human. Denim jeans, faded blue but there are dark brown stains in places, particularly the ankles. Black T-shirt... blue neck scarf... dark hair...
"Merlin," the detective muttered, before running in that general direction, much to the confusion of the doctor.
"What did you say? Sherlock! Stop running off" he shouted after the retreating form of the detective, before sighing and following after him.
"Sherlock? John? Where are you going?" asked Arthur as he and Mycroft turned the corner.
"No idea!" John replied, still chasing after Sherlock.
Sherlock stood there looking at the strung up form of his younger brother with horror, the body clearly distinguishable now.
"Sherlock for God's sake you need to stop running off it's going to... Sherlock? Is that... Merlin! God Sherlock, there he is!" John yelled, clutching at the detective.
"I know," Sherlock said, eyes fixed on Merlin. "We need to find a way to get him down safely, but quickly.
""Merlin! Merlin don't worry we'll get you down! Just stay calm," John yelled up to the figure. Sherlock snorted.
"He's clearly unconscious John, he can't hear you."
"He's waking up though," John said, pointing to how the fingers twitched slightly and how his eyes were scrunched up. No doubt due to concussion, Sherlock thought darkly, taking in the true extent of his brothers injuries.
Blood spatters on the trousers, mainly due to where the chains he was trapped in had shredded the skin. Track marks in the crook of his arm went someway to suggesting Merlin's state of unconsciousness, although that could also be linked to the matted blood in his hair, indicating a heavy blow to the head. The bruising from Merlin's original attack were much darker and more defined, and Merlin's face was much paler and more sunken than ever. Did they even bother to feed him?
"Sherlock," John said softly, startling the detective slightly out of his deduction. "We should find a way to get him down, then we can deal with his injuries."
"Of course," Sherlock said blankly.
"Wait, what's that around his neck?" John asked.
Sherlock scolded himself mentally for missing it, and looked up where John was pointing. There, around Merlin's neck, was a bomb, with only six minutes left on the clock.
""I always win Sherly, surely you know that by now," said Jim Moriarty as he stepped out from behind a crate.
"Jim, let him go, he's just a kid!" John pleaded. "Find it in that icy heart of yours!"
"John, surely by now you must realise that I don't have a heart! But Sherly on the other hand, his heart may be buried deep but it's still there." He turned to the detective and spoke directly to him. "Remember that night by the pool Sherlock, what I promised to do?"
Of course Sherlock remembered.
"Do you know what happens if you don't leave me alone, Sherlock, to you?"
"Oh, let me guess, I get killed.
"Kill you? No, don't be obvious I mean, I'm gonna kill you anyway, someday. I don't want to rush it, though. I'm saving it up for something special. No no no no no, if you don't stop prying... I'll burn you. I will burn the heart out of you."
"I have been reliably informed that I don't have one."
"But we both know that's not quite true. Well, I better be off. So nice to have had a proper chat."
"You knew about Merlin since then?" Sherlock asked.
"Well, no, but I knew there was someone you were hiding, so while you were off playing dead I did a little research, and imagine my surprise when there came a news report about a local kid, who was so brilliantly minded he had skipped two whole years of school, a young boy, whose name was Holmes. Even Johnny boy here can put two and two together."
"So you waited. You saw the news reports, heard the theories and knew I was still alive, and waited until I was ready to reveal myself to take Merlin."
"Exactly! And now, let's watch your heart burn together shall we. Four minutes Sherlock, tick tock!"
Two minutes, Sherlock thought. I can do this. He was so absorbed in the case in front of him he didn't even notice the arrival of Mycroft and Arthur, nor did he hear the heart wrenching cry the student gave.
Merlin hung from the ceiling by chain at least 20ft from the ground. Too high to reach up. No weakness on the chain. But the roof.
Just then Sherlock noticed another factor that he hadn't considered. Merlin was awake.
Hello world, it's your second favourite ginger (even I don't stand a chance in hell of beating your love for Benedict Cumberbatch). I'm very sorry this is late (again again) but I have very good reason... I'm on a surprise vacation in Florida. Yep, I'm running around Harry potter world like the fan girl I am! :) Also in the words of one Jim Moriarty "Ok, I lied!" This is NOT the final chapter, there will be one more after this that I am determined to post on New Years Eve, and it's almost done, so it SHOULD be posted then.
Just a few more things: much as I am so excited for Season 3 of Sherlock and the doctor who christmas episode, I am in America, where everything comes late, so for my own sanity please don't post anything about either of them in your reviews to me. Also thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story over the past few months, you are all my new best friends :D finally, the sequel to this story won't be up for a fair few months, however after I've posted the final chapter I'm going to start a set of one and two shots based on this universe, and I'm welcoming any suggestions as to things you want to see in that, or in the sequel.
If you enjoyed (or even if you didn't) please review, and I'll hopefully see you on New Year's Eve with the FINAL CHAPTER!
p.s. A moment of silence for our fallen fandom Merlin, which has now been off air for over a year *sobs* Long live Emrys and the Once and Future King
p.p.s. Has everyone else seen the Wholock! It's fab! Moffat better be taking notes! :)
p.p.p.s. After the full story is posted I'm going to do a complete edit, which won't change any of the plot lines, just a few figures and details to make it flow more seamlessly, so don't worry if bits of it don't quite match up, they will do after the edit :)
IndiaMoore
HOPE YOU HAD A MERLOCK CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY WHO YEAR! :D