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stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-06-09 05:05 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-06-09 05:05 pm
Entry tags:
My ficlet: I is for Imaginary
Title: I is for Imaginary
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Notes: Angst, part 1 of Time Loop: Reichenbach, set during "The Final Problem, this is a linked series of ficlets in which Watson relives Reichenbach based on theories collated in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes about what happened on that day.
Length: 500
Characters: Holmes & Watson
Prompt:
Summary: Watson wakes up on 4 May 1891 in Switzerland with Holmes and discovers Moriarty is his own invention.
“Ah, Watson, you’re awake. Wonderful. I had planned to knock you up in a moment. Enjoy your nap?”
I was sorely confused. It was the voice of Sherlock Holmes speaking. The same Sherlock Holmes who had, as far as I was aware, had tipped into the chasm of the Reichenbach Falls the previous day.
“How did you manage to get out?”
“Of London? The same way you did, my good man. Are you ready for our walk to Rosenlaui? With the detour recommended by our good landlord?”
I blinked. “But we, we, we went there yesterday.”
“Sleep has muddled you, Watson. Why, we only arrived in Meiringen yesterday.”
“What is today, Holmes?”
“The fourth of May.”
I could scarcely credit it. So, my nightmare of losing Holmes had been just that, a horrible phantom dream.
I readied myself, but all the while I had a strong sense of repetition.
Holmes was speaking as I followed him out of the Englischer Hof.
“When I return, we will revisit this place. But in the autumn. Our good landlord was telling me about a beautiful lake, and I have visions of you and I in a canoe paddling about upon its looking-glass surface.”
“When you return?”
Holmes stopped and sighed. “I will return, Watson. I’ve promised that. The fates of many nations rest on this mission upon which I am about to embark. I wish I could give you the details. I wish even more that I could take you with me. It will be dangerous But, you have a wife. You might even have a family soon. I won’t be that selfish.”
“But Moriarty?”
“Oh, have you settled on that name?”
“Professor James Moriarty.”
Holmes smiled. “I like it. Make him a professor of mathematics. I had a loathsome one in school. I am certain if in those days if I’d a churning abyss handy, I would’ve thrown him in.”
I let the import of his words sink in.
“Moriarty is my invention. He doesn’t really exist.”
Holmes wasn’t listening. “The autumn. Think how lovely this vista will be with the leaves changing colour. Spectacular.”
“How long will you be gone?” I asked.
“Years.”
“Years! But, but, but you will return?”
“Of course. I will do everything in my power to set this diplomatic matter to rights and return to Baker Street as swiftly as possible.”
“I will mourn you, Holmes.”
“And I will mourn the life I led. And my dear, dear companion and our companionship. And if Mycroft had not thoroughly convinced me of the importance of this assignment and how, let’s say, my assay of talents makes me a singularly appropriate candidate for the role, well, I wouldn’t go. But I can be of service, and of service, I shall be. Ah, here we are. And here is your message that will draw you away from the Falls, back to our lodgings, and there,” he pointed, “is where my note will be. Until we meet again, my dear friend.”
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Notes: Angst, part 1 of Time Loop: Reichenbach, set during "The Final Problem, this is a linked series of ficlets in which Watson relives Reichenbach based on theories collated in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes about what happened on that day.
Length: 500
Characters: Holmes & Watson
Prompt:
Summary: Watson wakes up on 4 May 1891 in Switzerland with Holmes and discovers Moriarty is his own invention.
“Ah, Watson, you’re awake. Wonderful. I had planned to knock you up in a moment. Enjoy your nap?”
I was sorely confused. It was the voice of Sherlock Holmes speaking. The same Sherlock Holmes who had, as far as I was aware, had tipped into the chasm of the Reichenbach Falls the previous day.
“How did you manage to get out?”
“Of London? The same way you did, my good man. Are you ready for our walk to Rosenlaui? With the detour recommended by our good landlord?”
I blinked. “But we, we, we went there yesterday.”
“Sleep has muddled you, Watson. Why, we only arrived in Meiringen yesterday.”
“What is today, Holmes?”
“The fourth of May.”
I could scarcely credit it. So, my nightmare of losing Holmes had been just that, a horrible phantom dream.
I readied myself, but all the while I had a strong sense of repetition.
Holmes was speaking as I followed him out of the Englischer Hof.
“When I return, we will revisit this place. But in the autumn. Our good landlord was telling me about a beautiful lake, and I have visions of you and I in a canoe paddling about upon its looking-glass surface.”
“When you return?”
Holmes stopped and sighed. “I will return, Watson. I’ve promised that. The fates of many nations rest on this mission upon which I am about to embark. I wish I could give you the details. I wish even more that I could take you with me. It will be dangerous But, you have a wife. You might even have a family soon. I won’t be that selfish.”
“But Moriarty?”
“Oh, have you settled on that name?”
“Professor James Moriarty.”
Holmes smiled. “I like it. Make him a professor of mathematics. I had a loathsome one in school. I am certain if in those days if I’d a churning abyss handy, I would’ve thrown him in.”
I let the import of his words sink in.
“Moriarty is my invention. He doesn’t really exist.”
Holmes wasn’t listening. “The autumn. Think how lovely this vista will be with the leaves changing colour. Spectacular.”
“How long will you be gone?” I asked.
“Years.”
“Years! But, but, but you will return?”
“Of course. I will do everything in my power to set this diplomatic matter to rights and return to Baker Street as swiftly as possible.”
“I will mourn you, Holmes.”
“And I will mourn the life I led. And my dear, dear companion and our companionship. And if Mycroft had not thoroughly convinced me of the importance of this assignment and how, let’s say, my assay of talents makes me a singularly appropriate candidate for the role, well, I wouldn’t go. But I can be of service, and of service, I shall be. Ah, here we are. And here is your message that will draw you away from the Falls, back to our lodgings, and there,” he pointed, “is where my note will be. Until we meet again, my dear friend.”
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