SPEAK FOR ME
.........by helloliriels for @flashfictionfridayofficial
Sherlock looked out across the sea of stars.
Small pins of light in the endless darkness he was now crossing. Fighting. To get back to him.
John.
.
He had asked for a speaker.
Someone to tell the story of a loved ones' death.
He had sent for Sherlock.
Speaker for the dead.
Sherlock pulled up the file to review Mary's history. To research and uncover what had happened? ... Before and after he had left John Watson behind on an alien planet to live a 'normal' life with her ... his dream life ... until she had suffered her untimely death.
He found instead, that John Watson -
. had gone through hell.
.
Had Mary been the cause?
The file contained so little. Most of it redacted.
Even as he scanned through the federations records, he watched the layers peeling away - no doubt Mycroft's hand at work - revealing more ... and more atrocities.
Mycroft was ensuring Sherlock had the full picture.
But ... did John know? This side of Mary?
No.
He could not have known. She would have ensured it.
Sherlock swallowed against the bile rising in his throat ... Looking at these bloody, gruesome clinical trials. Experimental murder.
Not to mention the history of assassination and genocide she had supported and assisted in throughout the years before she knew John …
If John had known, he would not have called for Sherlock. He would have killed her himself. To stop her.
To stop the war.
.
The knot in his stomach grew, at that thought.
.
What if?
He swiped back through to the request in haste. Reading it more closely this time:
.
. Speaker Request: specific
. Reference: 221BXNB SH URGENT
. Speaking for: John Watson
.
John Watson.
Not Mary Watson.
Sherlock drew in a gasping breath. Shaking as he tried to suppress the rising hysteria within himself, the adrenaline now rushing unimpeded through his veins …
.
He was an idiot!
It wasn't Mary he was speaking for … it was John. His. John?
Was he on trial then? For her murder? Why didn't it say???
Sherlock imagined - for the first time - being in someone else's place. John's place. Weaving the tale the public needed told. The happy family. The intrepid researcher. The close-knit village devastated by their great loss …
The accident that caused her death.
How grieved he was by seeing his wife, this way.
How his little child would grow up without a mother.
.
Not the horror they should be shielded from …
The inevitable war now brewing …
.
John's bravery knew no bounds.
And he deserved someone to stand by his side! If only Sherlock was not too late!!!
He sent an urgent message to Mycroft. Hoping-beyond-hope that Mycroft could stay the order in time! To prevent the local authorities from accepting John's coming confession, and buy Sherlock enough time to make the journey and solve the case!
This was no longer a speaking. It was a rescue.
.
Sherlock closed the file. Closed his eyes. And made his plan.
.
Far from perfect.
Far from home.
But
So near
To something he thought he'd lost ...
Something
Called …
. Hope.
.
Speaker for the Dead /// Ender AU /// Johnlock /// 500 words
