From Madam'zelleG: Old sins cast long shadows.

I'll be away for the next few days, so although I'll do my best to keep writing and posting stories, there may be a bit of a delay.

As I sat in the carriage taking me to prison, I knew there would be no return journey. This would be my final resting place.

This wasn't the first time my life had collapsed around me, but now I was much older, with a far greater list of sins against my name. After I'd been dismissed from the army, I thought things would finish there, that I would lose myself inside a bottle within the year. Instead, I found someone else, the man who became my best friend, and ultimately, my downfall.

James had been the most brilliant man I had ever met. He was a Professor, a genius who all his colleagues thought to be living in his own little world, when really, he had formed a kingdom instead. There was not a single crook in London he didn't know of, and his name was feared across the dark underbellies of Europe.

But for all that, he was my friend. We spent long nights philosophising on the nature of man, and how the hunter can become the hunted. He didn't tell me everything, he was too private for that, but he would share many of his dealings with me, and trusted me with those secrets. Really, trust was the iron core that lay beneath us. I trusted him with my true nature, and he trusted me with his.

Then James died.

The papers said he took that cursed Holmes down with him, and I could live with losing him if that was the price he had chosen to pay, but then reports started coming in. All over Europe, even into Asia and Africa, Moriarty's spiderwebs were coming undone. Someone was slashing through them all, and no one would know better how to do that than Sherlock Holmes.

I had no proof, no way to track him, or I would have hunted him down and skinned him for destroying James' legacy. Instead, I continued to live the life of petty crime I had fallen into after James' death, but kept my eye on the doctor. The bait was set. All I needed was patience, and the prey would come sniffing.

I did succeed in drawing Holmes back to London, but my attempt on his life did not go as smoothly as I hoped. Instead, I was arrested, charged, and was now on my way to a prison cell. I had wanted revenge for James, and instead I would join him in death.

The carriage drew to a stop, and I was escorted out. A pair of prison guards stepped forward to meet me, leading me inside as the guards in the carriage reboarded and drove away. Just before entering the prison gates, we came to a stop. One of the guards looked away, and I knew, this was it. The time had come to pay the price of my sins.

The other guard leaned in close to me. I could see the freckles on his nose, and the oddly pretty, almost girlish face. He looked a bit familiar somehow, though I couldn't place why. "This is for Ronald." Face screwing up, he made a quick jabbing motion, and as he drew back I saw a glint of metal.

Then there was nothing.