From Wordwielder: burnt


==Day 15: Fire and Water==

The fire at 221B Baker Street caused considerable distress among the general public. Rumors spread, quicker than the fire had, that it had been a conflagration, and had taken Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his landlady with the building, and that these sordid details were being suppressed by papers and police alike.

The facts were far less lurid, and much more sanguine. Since Holmes's return to London that month, April 1890, the older members of the Baker Street Irregulars had been shadowing him and keeping a weather eye on the immediate vicinity of 221.

Thus it was that Professor Moriarty's arsonist was caught in the act, and Mrs. Hudson evacuated, while the boys put out the fire, which had already irrevocably damaged some of Holmes's case files. Even the Stradivarius case had been burned, though, thankfully, the violin inside remained unharmed.

It took some time for those involved to combat the rumors and reassure the public that 221 still stood, Mrs. Hudson survived, and Mr. Holmes was merely away on holiday… But by then, Mr. Holmes was also reported dead at the bottom of a Swiss waterfall.

So, for many nights afterwards, Rose Hudson's dreams were full of roaring flames and thundering water.


"You haven't seen about Baker Street, then?"

"Baker Street?"

"They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done."

—"The Final Problem"


A/N: Wow, I really haven't abandoned this entirely! (I will finish it if it's the last thing I do!) Poor Mrs. H, though… *hugs her*

Btw, I'm so glad people enjoyed the fairytale AU! You just might see more of that in the future...