Lady-Karasu: (So of course I looked at this and thought, how can I take that in a direction you were clearly not intending? (Because I do things like that). Then this happened. XD)
Recap:
Climbing the stairs quietly, already prepared for the inevitable argument to come, he paused as a sound echoed down the stairwell. Laughter. No, laughter and giggles, along with a few thumps and thuds.
He continued up as silently as he could manage, pausing in the doorway of the sitting room to see…
…the bastard detective and his good doctor, relaxed and distracted by relief and the release of stress, thinking themselves clear, finally; free to reclaim the lives they’d thought they’d lost.
All it took was a month’s patience and his /own/ faked death to manage it.
Idiots. As if that ruse could only be used once.
He could already hear the shade of Jim mocking his actions – knew it’d take a bottle at least to shut him up, later – but his caution would be rewarded; had already been proven, given the relative lack of concern emanating from the room. What had been a tense and wary atmosphere mere weeks previous was now heedlessly unconcerned. A perfect target.
Sebastian’s pause could barely be called a hesitation – just the moment it took to silently pull his sidearm out and to the ready – sliding a step to the side, just cresting the door jamb with a shoulder and sighting into the room. It wasn’t his preference – lacking the distance and clarity of his rifle – but he’d long since given up the pretext that this wasn’t personal, was just business; he’d let the last framework of ‘the business’ be burnt to cinders around him, just for this chance, this moment. To complete his last order with a flair it’s issuer could appreciate.
If there was ever one thing that could be guaranteed above all others, it was that he never failed a job. Not for Jim. And if Holmes was still alive, well – that meant a bullet for Watson. It was simple as that. It could have been handled impersonally, of course, at a distance at any time in the other man’s comings and goings, but he wanted to /see/ the recognition of what was happening, the agony when Holmes realized his hard fought victory had just been snatched from his fingers, everything he’d worked for burning to dust around him in an instant. The centre of his world snuffed out right in front of him, unable to do anything about it. His loss.
Hell, Seb might even let him live to enjoy that feeling.
There was a brief, sadistic urge to make himself known, but he dismissed it out of hand; Watson was just a pawn, now. Had always been, really. Seb knew it was safer to make his move without announcing his presence – not allowing that moment of horror, however delicious it might be – but that was hardly the reason for his decision; let the man die cleanly, without warning. It was Holmes he wanted to suffer.
Lining up his shot with no further hesitation, Seb took a breath. Exhaled. Squeezed the trigger.
(…your call how that ends. *smirk*)
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Expository Lump: (Okay, Lady-Karasu and I had talked about what I was going to do in answer to this, but I was uncertain about my plan. In the meantime, the lovely kakareen-is-sonya popped in with an ending that made me squee. But also, funnily enough, her ending had similarities to what I’d been discussing with Lady-Karasu. I hadn’t planned to carry forward with mine, since I didn’t want Kakareen to think I was stealing her idea; however, I was not long afterward informed by Miz Karasu that I was not getting off the hook so lightly, so I carried on and wrote it.)
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Damn straight you weren’t getting off the hook – when you tell me there’s fic to be had, I expect there to be fic…. even if comes a year later. XD (I’m not at all referring to a certain mormor fic, nope, not at all.. *smiles innocently*)
Also, yay, you finished it! You’re much kinder than I would have been, so probably best it was you and not me… Sebastian had very firm ideas on how this should end, after all…
Lady Karasu 