The setting of this drabble is directly after the last drabble; it takes place in the train in the scene after Watson rescues Holmes from the Black Edelweiss, just minutes after Holmes explains to Watson that they will be going to New Orleans.
Risk
"You should have told me about your plans, Holmes!"
"Definitely not, Watson. You would have acted in an unnatural manner and done everything to persuade me against my course of action."
"You can be sure of that! Good God, Holmes, think of the risk you took!"
"Indeed, Watson. And I hesitate to reveal my further plans. They are likely to be far more dangerous."
I sit in this cushioned seat in our small compartment, watching the world whisk by outside the window in endless, blurred shades of cheerless greys and dead browns. The only sounds are the faint, distant chugs of the train's engine and the deep, even breathing of my obviously exhausted friend where he sits across from me with that accursed stone idol in his limp hands. His eyes move sporadically beneath his lids, as if he is dreaming.
Then again, perhaps it is a nightmare, originated from those many terrible hours spent within the dark walls of that evil Black Edelweiss Institute. I shudder to think of what my dear friend must have endured from the time I left to fetch the Swiss inspector until when I returned again; the thought of what demons will now most assuredly haunt him in his slumber — secretly, no doubt, as he in all probability will never admit it to even me — is heartrending.
My sharp regret for leaving him — however unintentional it was on my part — and my deep sympathy for his affliction are rivaled only by the seething anxiety and anger that roil inside of me.
When I voiced only the barest of my thoughts to him, he showed hardly the slightest concern for either his own safety or my distress as his neglecting it, and proceeded to casually explain to me the plans which he had already set for both our futures, involving another journey far from Baker Street, this time to American soil.
I want to tell him that I refuse to be a part of his hellish case any longer, to question why he felt it necessary to mislead me yet again for his highly-valued case, to demand he tell he how he dared risk his life for the second time in that country that holds so many tragic memories already, to force him to consider for a moment the affect it would have had upon me to wait days for his return before realizing he had vanished without a trace…then perhaps to find him endless years subsequent, withered and lifeless, having faded away into an unresponsive shadow with no past in a cold, sunless, dungeon-like cell, or, at best, with a damaged, wasted brain that would never recover its glory or remember his past existence as the greatest detective in the whole of England.
I very nearly want to leave him to his own fate, to give up this seemingly hopeless battle against the evils, to free myself of the ploys and falsehoods he uses to constantly deceive me, to forget these years of intimate friendship and enthralling adventure at the side of Sherlock Holmes.
Even should I vow to carry out my inward threats, I know I cannot. No matter what cruel tricks he plays or what deplorable lies he tells, I cannot abandon him. I cannot leave him to fight alone his bloody, dangerous battles. I cannot forsake him in the midst of the pitiless world with the knowledge of what could potentially occur if I did.
I cannot take that risk.
And so I shall continue with him to the shores of the new world, and stand unflinchingly by his side, for whatever may come. Whatever he endured alone in that wretched prison, whatever might haunt him from this day onward, and whatever personal hurt he has caused me, none will change the fact that I am, irrefutably, his friend and partner through all times of trouble and hardship.
And that is the risk I am willing to take.
I just added the last two paragraphs after I uploaded this document, so I'm not entirely sure it fits correctly. *crosses fingers* If anyone has any ideas for drabbles or fics of The Awakened, please don't be afraid to request. :)