In the Governor's office

"Why am I here?" Eurus Holmes asked on the screen, which was currently showing footage of one of her attempted psychiatric sessions.

The screen showed four different angled security shots of Eurus as she sat cross-legged before the glass of her prison, her head slightly bowed and her expression empty of any emotions while she seemingly examined the blank ground before her.

"Why do you think you're here?" A male voice questioned faintly, the speaker off-screen, and Eurus answered flatly: "No-one ever tells me."

John frowned from his spot behind Mycroft, where the eldest Holmes sibling was seated at the Governor's desk. The Governor himself stood on the other side, his hands tucked grimly into his pockets as they all stared at the projection panel on the wall, where Eurus asked onscreen: "Am I being punished?"

"You've been bad." The man answered shortly, but Eurus answered in an almost sing-song voice: "There's no such thing as 'bad'."

"What about good?" The man questioned, but Eurus answered without missing a beat and without any inflection in her voice: "Good and bad are fairytales."

She cocked an eyebrow though she kept her eyes on the ground as she continued flatly: "We have evolved to attach an emotional significance to what is nothing more than the survival strategy of the pack animal."

John frowned slightly, noting that her cold and rapid speech sounded eerily similar to Sherlock's when he was firing off what he considered to be an unimportant or uninteresting deduction – or simply trying to annoy Anderson.

"We are conditioned to invest divinity in utility. Good isn't really good, evil isn't really wrong, and bottoms aren't really pretty. You are a prisoner of your own meat."

"Why aren't you?" The man countered, and Eurus finally lifted her head.

Staring right at the camera, she answered slowly and distinctly: "I'm too clever."


Outside the facility

Marie glanced around again with a frown.

Something… something wasn't right. She could just feel it. Maybe she should have argued to go with John and Mycroft...

Marie glanced to the side absently, before she focused more sharply and her frown deepened at what she was seeing.

"What…?" She muttered, eyes narrowing.


Inside Eurus's cell room

Eurus finally finished playing her piece, slowly lowering her bow. Still not turning around, she asked – her voice carrying through to the speakers set up outside the sealed glass cell: "Did you bring it?"

"I'm sorry?" Sherlock asked with a puzzled frown, and Eurus answered impatiently and sharply: "My hairband. Did you bring it like I asked?"

"I'm," Sherlock answered hesitantly, still confused, "not one of the... I-I don't work here."

"My special hairband." Eurus stressed, and Sherlock answered firmly: "I'm not one of your doctors."

"The one I made you steal, from Mummy."

Sherlock paused, tensing slightly at Eurus's words while the woman turned to face him at last.

Pale eyes met pale blue as Eurus said intently: "It was the last thing I said to you, remember? The day they took me away."

"No." Sherlock replied, shaking his head slightly, and Eurus repeated with a slightly raised brow: "No?"

"No, we've spoken since then." Sherlock reminded in a quiet but firm voice. "You came round to my flat a few weeks back; you pretended to be a woman called Faith Smith. We had chips."

"Does this mean you didn't bring my hairband?" Eurus demanded, looking slightly put out, but Sherlock asked instead as he stared at Eurus intently: "How did you manage to get out of this place? How did you do that?"

"Easy." Eurus answered as she stared right back at her brother. "Look at me."

"I am looking at you." Sherlock pointed out, and Eurus realized: "You can't see it, can you? You try and try but you just can't see; you can't look."

"See what?" Sherlock demanded.

Eurus suddenly held out her violin towards him, asking abruptly: "What do you think?"

"Beautiful." Sherlock answered immediately, and Eurus scolded sharply: "You're not looking at it."

Sherlock closed his eyes briefly before looking back at Eurus as he corrected: "I meant your playing."

"Oh, the music." Eurus mused, sounding part dismissive and part thoughtful as she lowered her violin once more so she could examine it. "I never know if it's beautiful or not; only if it's right."

"Often they're the same thing." Sherlock pointed out, but Eurus countered as she looked back up at him: "If they're not always the same thing, what's the point in beauty?"

She abruptly lifted the violin towards Sherlock once more as she added suddenly: "Look at the violin."

"I need to know how you escaped." Sherlock insisted, ignoring her as he looked at her, but Eurus was even firmer as she repeated: "Look at the violin."

Sherlock finally did as she ordered, shifting his eyes onto the instrument and he noted after a quick examination: "It's a Stradivarius."

"It's a gift." Eurus added, and Sherlock questioned with a puzzled frown: "Who from?"

"Me." Eurus answered.

She then turned, walking to her right where there was a metal hatch set into the edge of her glass cell. Placing her violin and bow inside, she stepped back as the hatch revolved around so that the opening now faced Sherlock.

Eurus walked back to the centre of her cell while Sherlock – immediately knowing what Eurus wanted – walked over to the hatch, removing the violin and bow from it before he too returned to the middle of the room.

Glancing down at the instrument now in his hands, Sherlock questioned: "Why?"

"You play, don't you?" Eurus answered with her back half turned to him, knowing what he was asking without needing him to even formulate his question fully.

Sherlock looked up at her in no small amount of surprise, and he asked quietly but intently: "How did you know?"

That finally caught Eurus's interest, and she turned back to him with the faintest hint of puzzlement about her as she repeated: "How did I know?"

Her pale blue eyes were narrowed as she stared at Sherlock intently while answering: "I taught you, don't you remember? How can you not remember that?"

"Eurus," Sherlock answered softly as he stared back at his sister, "I don't remember you at all."

Eurus's eyes widened slightly and a small smile appeared on her face as she murmured: "Interesting. Mycroft told me you'd rewritten your memories; he didn't tell me you'd written me out completely."

"What do you mean, 'rewritten'?" Sherlock interrupted sharply, staring at her intently, and Eurus returned the look as she examined him for a moment.

"You still don't know about Redbeard, do you?" She asked suddenly, and Sherlock barely twitched a finger.

She caught the slight movement however – not that she really needed the confirmation – and she breathed almost happily as she stared at Sherlock: "Oh. This is going to be such a good day."


In the Governor's office

John stared at the screen, frowning slightly as Eurus said right at the camera: "She smiles at you when you come home. Like a reflex."

Meanwhile, behind John, Mycroft sat slumped tiredly in the Governor's chair, while the Governor explained: "Everyone we sent in there; it-it's hard to describe."

John glanced over as the Governor struggled to place his thoughts into words. "It's... it's like she..."

"Recruited them." Mycroft supplied, sitting with his arms folded, and the Governor corrected grimly: "Enslaved them."

"She's been capable of that since she was five." Mycroft snapped, placing his hands on his hip while John turned back to the screen.

Mycroft meanwhile kept his eyes fixed disapprovingly on the Governor as he added in a low voice: "She's an adult now. I warned you; I ordered you."

The Governor sighed, before he tried with a small smile: "She's clinically unique. We had to try."

John glanced at him again before looking back at the screen while Mycroft demanded of the Governor: "At what cost?"

"Happiness is a pop song." Eurus was saying onscreen, her face still as flat and expressionless as her voice. But her eyes as they stared at the camera… "Sadness is a poem."

Mycroft was looking at the screen as well, and he murmured again, almost to himself: "What cost?"

He then turned back to the Governor as he ordered: "Tell me the worst thing that has happened."

The Governor paused, before he finally stated: "She kept suggesting to Dr. Taylor that he should kill his family."

"And?" Mycroft asked pointedly, and the Governor explained: "He said it was like an earworm; couldn't get her out of his head."

John turned to look at the Governor again, a deep frown on his face while Mycroft repeated: "And?"

"He left." The Governor answered shortly, but Mycroft prompted sternly: "And?"

"Killed himself." The Governor continued, but didn't say more.

"And?" Mycroft repeated, staring the Governor down, and the man finally finished: "…His family."

Mycroft pursed his lips while John turned back to the screen where Eurus was asking as she stared at the camera: "Are you going to cry? It's okay if you cry."

"I don't need to cry." The male voice answered, but Eurus replied firmly: "I can help you cry."


Outside the facility

Marie frowned as she watched the guards, who had suddenly gathered into small groups along the beach. Their formation indicated a casual assembly but the timing didn't – they all moved at the same time.

Ice seemed to slowly spread down Marie's spine as she just knew in her gut: something was very wrong here.


Inside Eurus's cell room

"Play for me." Eurus ordered, and Sherlock countered: "I need to know how you got out of here."

"You know already." Eurus retorted, closing her eyes briefly in exasperation before looking back at Sherlock. "Look at me. Look and play."

Sherlock pursed his lips but finally did as she said. Keeping his eyes fixed on Eurus, Sherlock lifted the violin and played the opening chords to Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor, one of his go-to pieces for thinking… or showing off.

But he made it only as far as the opening chord when Eurus interrupted irritably: "No, not Bach; you clearly don't understand it. Play you."

"Me?" Sherlock repeated, watching Eurus like a hawk.

She stared right back at him as she challenged: "You."

Sherlock paused for a moment, his eyes dropping down to look at his violin for a moment, before he lifted the bow once more and began to play again, this time a different tune. It was much simpler than Bach's, and yet it had much more emotion in it when he played it.

Eurus's brow shot up in surprise as she listened to Sherlock playing a variation of the melody that had started as a regretful tune and eventually adjusted into a proposal; the music he had written for a mysterious rose; the song of his wife.

"Oh!" Eurus mused as she listened to his playing carefully. "Have you had sex?"

"Why do you ask?" Sherlock returned, not stopping in his playing.

"The music." She explained, her brow arching almost coyly at him.

"I have children – of course I've had sex." Sherlock answered curtly, keeping his eyes on Eurus even as he continued to play.

"I'd heard you were a virgin." She countered.

"Knowing you though, was it with your 'wife'?" Eurus asked though it sounded more like taunting. She also made clear air quotes around the word she had uttered with a strange mix of disdain and perverse longing. "Your first time, I mean? No."

Eurus answered her own question before Sherlock could even open his mouth as she said, a clear mocking note in her voice: "I should say, all your 'times' were with her, shouldn't I? You're quite loyal that way."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed just slightly, but otherwise showed no other outward sign of emotion; but Eurus still smirked at him knowingly.

"Oh, it was." She grinned widely. "So predictably you. I've had sex." She tacked on rather randomly, and Sherlock frowned just slightly.

"How?" He asked, still playing, and Eurus explained in rapid-fire speech: "One of the nurses got careless. I liked it; messy, though. People are so breakable."

"I take it he didn't consent." Sherlock commented a little dryly.

"'He'?" Eurus repeated with a slight frown, and Sherlock corrected swiftly: "She?"

Eurus almost shrugged as she answered nonchalantly, turning her head slightly to look thoughtfully into space: "Afraid I didn't notice in the heat of the moment and afterwards... well, you couldn't really tell."

She paused, before her lips curled into another smirk as she asked: "Is that vibrato, or is your hand shaking?"

Eurus turned her pale, cold eyes back on Sherlock, who slightly and purposefully emphasized the vibrato on the last, long note of his piece.

Sherlock then stopped playing, lowering the violin as he stared at Eurus. His face carefully hid his disconcertment, affected by Eurus's careless comments on the woman she'd broken. It was a little too close for comfort for Sherlock, given Marie's past with Moriarty, but from Eurus's expression he could see she saw how much her words had hit home despite his attempts not to show any reaction.

Her lips curved up into another of those cruel, cold smiles as Eurus stared back at him with the first signs of genuine glee flickering deep inside those pale blue eyes.


Outside the facility

"Sherlock." Marie murmured as she watched the guards start to casually disperse.

"Not now." He answered, sounding distracted, and Marie called instead: "John?"

"Yeah?" Was his quiet reply, and she said worriedly: "I think something's wrong."


Inside the Governor's office

Mycroft and the Governor were arguing, the pair on opposite sides of the desk while John watched them with his arms crossed, from his place behind Mycroft.

"I warned you explicitly; no-one was to talk to her alone." Mycroft said angrily as he stood glaring down at the Governor where he was seated across the desk, and the Governor retorted: "You spoke to her."

"I know what I'm doing!" Mycroft snapped, but the Governor added accusingly: "You even brought her a visitor on Christmas Day."

John frowned, glancing at Mycroft, who replied through grit teeth: "I took a calculated risk."

"You gave her a Christmas present." The Governor continued doggedly, staring right at Mycroft. "Remember her Christmas present?"

"I am aware of the dangers Eurus poses, and equipped to deal with them." Mycroft countered, saying each word distinctly as he kept his anger and frustration in check.

"What dangers?" John interjected, and Mycroft turned to him as he explained heavily: "Eurus doesn't just talk to people. She... reprograms them."

John turned back to the screen, staring intently at the security footage once more while Mycroft went on: "Anyone who spends time with her is automatically compromised."

It was at that moment that Marie called through their earpieces: "John?"

"Yeah?" John asked quietly, his eyes fixed on the screen as his brows furrowed together, before his gut dropped as Marie informed him quietly: "I think something's wrong."

It was all the confirmation John needed for his own hunch, and he replied to Marie briefly: "So do I."

Onscreen, Eurus was saying: "I'm only trying to help you. We can help each other. Helping someone… is the best way you can help yourself."

"I don't trust you." The man off-screen replied, his voice faint in the recording but still distinctly familiar.


In Eurus's cell room

"So clearly you remember me." Sherlock commented after rejecting Marie's call, staring at Eurus.

Eurus answered as she started to slowly walk forwards and closer to Sherlock: "I remember everything; every single thing. You just need a big enough hard drive."

"Sherlock." This time it was John calling him through the earpiece, and Sherlock muttered very quietly: "Not now."

"Vatican Cameos." John informed him quietly but urgently, but Sherlock hissed back impatiently: "In a minute."

Sherlock removed the earpiece, wanting – no, needing – to solve this case.


In the Governor's office, John removed his finger from his own earpiece, closing his eyes and licking his lips worriedly.


Outside the facility, Marie turned her head away from the guards as her own hand dropped from where she'd had her finger on her earpiece. Without a second look back, she moved swiftly back around the building, heading back inside and towards her endangered friends.

*A/N Did I surprise anyone with the song Sherlock chose to play? I hinted at it ages ago, in the first book in fact, but never really felt compelled to explain it further and I'm kinda glad I left it out until now. Didn't quite expect it to come back the way it has, but I'm more satisfied with it the way it is. For those who don't remember, Sherlock composed sad songs after Christmas, which everyone assumed to be to mourn Irene Adler. While one is most certainly Adler's theme (I cannot leave it out, it's a beautiful piece!), the other that I left unattended to was Marie's. If you're interested, I imagine it to sound like blacksheeop08's 'Sound of an Angel', which you can find on youtube. The violin bit starts at 30 seconds, and the piece is one of my favourites. And that, readers, is the longest author's note I shall ever write! Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!