Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock or anything.
The screen was playing a recording. Sherlock was sat in the dark with John sleeping against him. Sherlock just sat watching the area around him.
The sound of footsteps appeared and the kind man crouched in front of Sherlock.
"Hello." He said.
Sherlock pulled John a bit closer.
"Hello." The awake five year old said.
"I brought you some food. It is just bread, but it's all I could get. Eat it quickly so nobody notices." He said and passed Sherlock a slice of bread.
Sherlock inspected the bread and then ripped it in half. The kind man sat down properly in front of them.
"Are you not going to wake your little brother up?" he asked.
"He's not my little brother. He's my big brother." Sherlock corrected "And no I'm not. He's tired from carrying me." Sherlock said. "But I will save him half the food." Sherlock finished.
The kind man nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments.
Sherlock finished eating and said "Most people make that mistake. Because I'm the size of a 5 year old and John's the size of a 4 year old they think I'm older. But people shouldn't judge age by size. If they watched our behaviour they would see we were twins and that he looks after me." Sherlock said.
"I see that. But I think you look after each other." The man said with a smile.
Sherlock gave a small smile.
"We'll always look after each other." Sherlock said.
"That's good." The man said.
"Excuse me, but... can I tell John why you're helping us?" Sherlock asked.
"Why do you think I am helping you?" the man asked.
"Because you had children, you had two boys. And they were taken from you a while ago. Your wife left you and she took the children and you aren't allowed to see them ever again. When you see me and John, you see your children. And you want to help us. You were forced in to being in this mission. You didn't want to be. And you don't want to see us hurt because you're a father." Sherlock said.
The man was silent for a moment.
"You're very clever." He finally said.
Sherlock smiled "I'm clever, yes. But John's the person who is good with people. He trusts you. He can sense when to trust people, I just see whether I can trust people or not." He said.
The kind man smiled at him "You make a good team" he said.
Sherlock nodded.
John stirred and opened his eyes.
"Sherlock?" he called out.
"I'm here, John. The kind man brought us food." Sherlock said and gave John the food to which the little boy ate quickly.
When he finished John looked up at the man "Thank you." He said.
"It's no problem. I have to go now. Look after each other." The man said and stood to leave.
John grabbed his hand and the man looked into the 5 year olds face.
"Don't be sad. We'll be okay." The child said.
"I'll try." The man smiled and left.
John sat back next to Sherlock.
"Tell me what you know about him." John requested.
The screen changed. The twins were huddled together "It's too cold." John said.
A door swung open and light poured into the room.
Two straight faced men walked in and stood the boys up.
They got their guns out and pointed them at the children.
"You'll follow us. Any funny business and we shoot. Got it?" one gruff man asked. The twins nodded quickly and grabbed onto each other's hands.
One man walked in front and another behind.
They led the twins down long plain corridors until they reached a small door. They entered and found a man wearing a suit with black straight hair and cold blue eyes who smiled.
"Take a seat Mr and Mr Holmes." He said and gestured to the two seats in front of him. The twins reluctantly sat down and the two men who had led them there stood at the door.
"Hello. My name is Frederick, please, call me Fred." He said.
The twins remained silent and the man leaned forward.
"I've been watching you two. You are quite remarkable, aren't you?" he said. The boys remained silent.
"Sherlock, you're very much like your dad, clever and unloving." Fred smirked.
"Sherlock and daddy aren't unloving!" John shouted.
Fred roared "Shut UP!" and struck John on the cheek. John whimpered and put a hand to the wound. A scratch had appeared and a drop of blood rolled down his cheek.
"Don't you hit my John!" Sherlock shouted and kicked Frederick in the shins. Fred grabbed Sherlock's hair until the boy winced.
"You will both shut up. Do not talk unless I ask you to, got that?" he asked.
Sherlock and John nodded and Frederick let go of Sherlock.
Sherlock moved closer to John.
"You can't protect him, Sherlock. And John, you can't protect Sherlock." Frederick smirked and sat back.
"So, what do you to want to be when you grow up? Come on, answer me, Sherlock?" he asked.
"I'm not sure yet. I want to solve puzzles. I like puzzles." Sherlock said.
"Ah, nice, and what about you, John?" he asked.
"I want to be a soldier. Or a doctor, I'm not sure yet." John said.
"Well, isn't that lovely." Frederick said. "John, you do remind me of your mother. She was a very stubborn and feisty woman, but she enjoyed helping people; a very compassionate person." He said.
"Did you know our parents?" John asked.
"I knew them. Show offs, God I hated them. They had everything. A family, a nice house, did best at everything." Frederick sneered.
"So... you want us for revenge?" Sherlock asked.
"No, no, revenge isn't my style. I want you so that I can protect everyone else. And now I'm going to tell you what is happening. I took you because I need to know how powerful you are. You are excelling in everything you do and you are very close. You two could grow up to be evil. I want to protect the innocent civilians. So I am going to run you through some tests, won't that be fun? If you refuse to take part I will just have to kill you. And if you do not perform to the best of your ability I will kill you. Come with me." Frederick stood and John and Sherlock reluctantly followed the man through the corridors.
They came to a room where there was a tank; a tank the size of a bungalow. There was a ladder leading to the top. It was like a giant fish tank, but no fish and no water.
The room was also large and white, clinical.
Frederick got 2 pieces of long rope and tied them around Sherlock and John's chests.
"Climb up those steps and we will lower you to the floor. Remove the ropes and give us a smile." Frederick said.
Sherlock and John looked at each other and then at Frederick who shouted "DO IT!"
The twins scrambled up the steps and then sat at the edge of the square tank.
Two of the men in black grabbed the other ends of the rope and as Sherlock and John leant over the edge and began swinging down. Sherlock and John held onto each other's arms.
Their feet finally landed on the ground.
"Undo the ropes!" Frederick ordered.
Sherlock and John undid the knots and the ropes were pulled up to the outside of the tank.
Sherlock and John were trapped.
"What now, Frederick?" Sherlock shouted.
"Good luck." Frederick said and left, along with his soldiers.
John and Sherlock looked at each other.
"John, are you okay?" Sherlock asked and reached up a hand to John's cut cheek.
John nodded. "I'm okay. I think that man is insane." John said.
"Me too, we have to do what he says. It's our only way out of here." Sherlock said and John nodded.
Sherlock smiled and then walked to a wall of the tank and put his hand against it.
Suddenly water began trickling down the four walls and pooled at the bottom of the tank.
Sherlock stepped back to John.
"Oh, God!" John said as the water rose so it covered their feet.
"John! You can't swim!" Sherlock said.
John just stared in shock "W-well, what do we do?" John stammered.
"Erm... let me think." Sherlock said.
As the water crept up their legs till it was at their waists Sherlock had his eyes shut in concentration. His eyes snapped open.
"John, get on my back. Like when daddy goes to the deep end with you." Sherlock instructed.
"I'm too heavy. You'll get tired!" John protested.
"It's the only chance you've got! I'll be fine." Sherlock reassured him.
John got onto Sherlock's back and held on tightly to Sherlock.
"I'm not sure about this Sherlock." John said.
"Do you want to die?" Sherlock shouted as the water came up to their shoulders.
"No! But I don't want you to die!" John shouted.
The water was at their necks as Sherlock kicked off from the ground and kicked his arms and legs to keep them afloat.
John hung on as Sherlock struggled to keep them both above water.
The water grew higher and higher and Sherlock struggled on, breathing hard and occasionally choking on swallowed water.
When the tank was three quarters of the way full Sherlock began slowing down and his moves became sluggish. He swallowed water more frequently.
John unwound his arms from Sherlock's neck but Sherlock grabbed one of his hands.
"No, John." He spluttered.
"You're too tired. You'll drown!" John said.
"No I won't." Sherlock argued.
"Hold on to my hands and help me swim too." John suggested.
Sherlock slowly nodded and turned around to face John, holding onto his hands. John kicked his legs hard but his head was slowly going under.
"Keep kicking your legs!" Sherlock said.
"It isn't working!" John said.
Sherlock pulled John to him and let John grip to him.
"I'm sorry." John whispered in his brother's ear.
"It's fine." Sherlock said.
"I'm not sorry for the fact I can't swim. I'm sorry for this. Let me go, Sherlock. Let me go and you can live. They want both of us. Just one of us is useless, they'll let you go." John said.
"No!" Sherlock shouted and held John tighter.
"Sherlock, I love you, I really do. But, please, let me go." John said as a tear rolled down his face.
"And I love you! So I can't! John, I can't!" Sherlock said.
"Yes you can. Please... Sherlock. It's me, or both of us." John said.
"Then let it be both of us." Sherlock said.
"I can't do that. Mummy and Daddy need you. Everyone needs you. I need you to live. Please, Sherlock let me go." John said.
Sherlock fell silent and John wriggled his arms out of Sherlock's grip. But Sherlock wouldn't let go of one of his hands.
"Please, John... stay." Sherlock said as tears overflowed.
"Let me go." John said.
Sherlock's grip loosened and John pushed away from Sherlock. They faced each other and John slowly began to sink. His eyes stayed on Sherlock's as his head disappeared under water and his kicks carried on as he sank.
The whole living room was in silence. Rose, Harry and Molly were crying. John and Sherlock had subconsciously moved closer together.
Sherlock on the screen looked up at the ceiling and tears ran down his cheeks.
The recording went under water to John. John had stopped kicking and bubbles were slowly pouring out of his mouth. His eyes were wide open and he slowly sunk.
Moriarty reappeared "Will Sherlock leave John to drown?" Moriarty asked.
"Obviously not." Sherlock said.
"Really, is it really obvious, Sherlock? Look at you. You're scared of yourself." Moriarty said.
The screen began playing again. Sherlock was sobbing and slowly looked to the edge. The tank was nearly full. He could pull himself up.
Sherlock looked down and saw John, immobile under water.
"John!" he shouted and took a deep breath and dived under water.
The camera followed Sherlock as he struggled down to John. John's eyes slowly closed and Sherlock's small arms reached out and his hands grabbed onto John's chest.
He wrapped his arms around John's back and swam up.
He resurfaced with a gasp and spluttering. John's limp body flopped over Sherlock and he swam to the side with the ladder. One small hand gripped onto the edge and he pulled himself and John out of the water. He walked backwards down the ladder, holding John's limp form to him with one hand while the other helped him down the ladder. When he reached the bottom he let John's body fall onto the floor.
He knelt next to John and put his hands on John's chest.
"John! John, please wake up! Please... don't leave me here!" Sherlock said.
John was pale and not breathing.
"That isn't good enough!" Sherlock said and put two hands over John's heart and pushed down, hard.
This made no difference, but Sherlock didn't stop. He thumped onto John's chest and then pinched John's nose and opened his mouth and breathed into John's mouth.
Nothing happened, but Sherlock didn't stop. He thumped on John's chest five times and then breathed into his mouth. After five times of this Sherlock breathed into John's mouth one more time and John startled awake and threw up water all over the floor. He coughed and spluttered and breathed quickly. He turned to Sherlock and pulled his brother into an embrace. Sherlock cried into John's shoulder.
"John?" Sherlock called.
"Thank you, Sherlock. Thank you. It's okay now, I'm here." John said through gasping breaths.
"Your here." Sherlock whispered.
John pushed Sherlock back "Are you ever going to listen to me?" John asked.
Sherlock laughed and pulled John into another hug.
"TEA BREAK!" Moriarty shouted and the screen switched to Moriarty.
"Don't try to leave, or you'll die." Moriarty said and the screen went blank.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading. Please, please review! I need your encouragement to know if you like it or if you have any constructive feedback! Please review! Thanks!