Chapter Text
Ritsuka opened her eyes slowly, stretching with a not so happy groan. Her body ached a bit, and she still felt a bit tired. Lately, waking up still tired and in pain happened more and more frequently. Her body seemed to dislike waking up, and was unable to properly rest despite the long hours of sleep she was always able to get.
She had attributed it to her new job being demanding, even though she actually liked it. It required a lot of effort and attention, and that was probably draining her energy.
“Good morning, my dear.” A soft, low voice next to her ear greeted her, and she turned her body slightly on her side to smile at the man that was holding her close under the bedsheets.
James Moriarty was smiling, and she reciprocated the smile, moving one hand to cup his cheek.
“Good morning. I feel like I don’t really want to wake up today. My body feels sore.” She said, watching him tilt his head to press his cheek more on her hand.
“You are too stressed because of your job. You need to ask for some time off.” He suggested, as he had already done a few times before.
“I think I’ll do just that…” Ritsuka nodded, as her thumb caressed his cheek.
He hummed in appreciation, then bent down to kiss her softly, like he always did every morning, workday or weekend, no matter what they had to do. Ritsuka loved how kind and gentle he was with her all the time, and was overjoyed by their new life together.
Chaldea had won, the Alien God had been defeated, and now she could live her life with the person she loved the most without a care in the world, apart from her job and the sporadic mischief that her soon to be husband still managed to commit…nothing too bad, however, as he had sworn that he would be a good husband and avoid any big trouble.
They cuddled for a long while, before they finally decided that it was time to get up and have breakfast. The room was inundated with the morning light, and it even looked a bit blurry. She blinked a few times, and the feeling disappeared. That was a bit weird, maybe she needed to start wearing glasses?
She had a quick shower, then ran to the kitchen to prepare breakfast before James tried to do that. It had happened a few times, and every time it had been a true disaster, and once he had almost set the kitchen on fire. Despite being amazing at brewing cocktails and being able to do everything else well, cooking seemed to be the thing that he really could not do correctly. And she really did not want to eat charred pancakes again.
“I really should learn how to cook something edible, sooner or later…” James complained as he set the plates and the napkins on the kitchen table, clearly not happy of not being able to do everything perfectly.
Ritsuka shook her head. “It’s ok, James, I can do this, at least…you bought the house and the car, helped me with my studies…I can at least cook!” She declared. “And now that I have a job, I can contribute even more!”
James sighed, wrapping her in his arms from behind. “You know I do not mind if you don’t help with these things, right?” A Victorian man through and through, Moriarty came from a time where a man was supposed to provide for his lady. But he also appreciated how independent and strong willed she was.
“I know, but it’s the right thing to do!” Ritsuka said, turning her face to place a soft kiss on his cheek.
“Yes, the right thing…” He muttered, and Ritsuka felt like there was a tinge of sadness in his voice, but it lasted only a moment. He was back to his happy self in an instant, and she even doubted that she heard his tone right. “Now, let’s eat your amazing pancakes!”
Ritsuka chuckled, nodding. “Just one more minute and they will be ready!”
After breakfast, Ritsuka asked James if he wanted to go out for a walk, and he agreed, as he always did. They loved spending time together no matter the situation, and loved their long walks around the city, just window shopping, eating an ice cream or any other street food, resting at a park bench while looking at the trees…she really felt blissful every time, and she could not wish for a happier life.
They went out of their apartment, hand in hand, chatting about trivial matters. Her body did not ache anymore, although it still felt tired, and she realized that she was walking a bit slower than usual. After walking for a while, she had to stop, putting one hand on her chest. Somehow, her breath felt ragged.
“I feel really tired all of a sudden…strange…” Ritsuka muttered, and James squeezed her hand.
“Let’s sit down there. There’s a bench.” He pointed forward, and Ritsuka noticed a bench to the side of the road. It was blue, and seemed almost brand new.
“Oh you’re right…was it there all the time?” She asked, perplexed. She had walked through that street almost every day, and yet she had never noticed it before…
James' answer was soft. “Yes, my dear, it was always here. Come, sit down.” He said, taking her hands and leading her to the bench.
Ritsuka obeyed, smiling at the man, now clearly worried. “Sorry. It’s just a moment. You are right, I really need to take some time off…” She felt bad to make him worry that much.
He shook his head, sitting down with her, still holding one of her hands. “It’s ok, you can think about your job tomorrow…for now, let’s just enjoy our time together after we rest a bit on this bench.” He sounded sad and worried, and Ritsuka felt bad. She really was worrying him.
“Yes, you are right…I’m just so happy to be with you. No fighting, no pain, no harsh decision to make…just a peaceful, happy life.” She declared, squeezing his hand and resting her head on his shoulder. After a moment of silence - nobody seemed to be around. That was peculiar, that street used to be pretty crowded - she spoke again. “I was thinking…we should call Mash…ask her how Director Goredolf and Da Vinci-chan are doing…it’s been a while since we last heard from them, right?”
“Yes, it’s been a while indeed…” James answered, pulling her closer by wrapping one of his arms around her waist. His tone was plain and calm.
“They were doing well, right?” Ritsuka asked, then blinked. She could not really remember well the last time she had seen them or heard from them. Her memories were so fuzzy…
She decided to focus on their faces, trying to recall how they looked the last time she saw them in person.
Mash had smiled at her, right? With a somehow painful smile. She had been so used to being together with Mash all the time, it made sense for her to be sad now that they would have to part ways for a bit.
Director Goredolf was crying. Yes, he was crying. What a dramatic reaction, they could always visit, it’s not like she went to live in an unreachable place…it was just her small, birthplace town.
Da Vinci seemed somber, and her actions slow. So slow, like she was shutting down…why was she shutting down? She should have been fine, with Chaldea still able to survive somehow thanks to the Director’s family…
Ritsuka blinked a few times, before closing her eyes again.
A vision of those three faces covered in blood shook her.
Why was she seeing something so gruesome? They had won, the fighting was over. Their final farewell meeting should have been a happy and cheerful one…
“James…” Ritsuka asked, her voice shaky. “We won against the Alien God…right?” She did not even know why she was asking that question, but she felt like she had to. She opened her eyes, but did not look at him, staring up toward the sky above her.
She could feel him tense slightly, and press her closer. “Of course we won…”
She believed him, but she could not remember anything about it. It should have been a happy, joyous moment, right? They surely had celebrated, hugged, cheered…and yet her memory was a void when she tried to search for those memories.
It looked like they did not even exist.
That thought scared her in an irrational, horrible way.
“Then why…” Ritsuka gulped, her voice shaky. “Why I cannot remember it…why…why…” She tensed all of a sudden, bending forward and clutching her head with her hands. She suddenly felt her head hurt immensely. She could barely hear James call her name as a high pitched ring invaded her ears. Tears started to stream from her eyes, and she looked up again, wanting to turn her attention to him, but the view of the sky froze her. She wailed softly.
“The sky…” She muttered, still clutching her head. “The sky is glitching…”
She could not see him turn abruptly towards the sky, where a part of the blue was indeed glitching, like a light that was about to die, flickering mercilessly.
A cold, stern voice stopped James from trying to calm her down enough to fix that mess before it was too late. “Of course it’s glitching, this is all fake.”
Ritsuka painfully turned her head to her left. The high-pitched sound was not loud enough for her to not recognize that voice. She had grown accustomed to it, grew an affection for its owner, like he had been an older brother of sorts. She had cried when he had supposedly died, to allow them to defeat Ruler Moriarty…
“Holmes…?” She muttered, before the high-pitched noise became so loud it was unbearable.
Ritsuka cried as her mind got flooded with images, and she suddenly remembered all the things she would never have wanted to remember.
The view of a bleached world, devoid of any life, only white sand and white ruins anywhere the eye could see. The screams of the remaining Chaldea staff as a huge, fiery light obliterated them and dissipated them into white dust.
Mash, as she held on to the fading corpse of Director Goredolf, calling his name as he looked at them in utter terror, aware of what was happening to his body as it disappeared into fine white dust.
Da Vinci-chan’s wails as her robotic body stopped moving, having no more energy to supply it with, extending her hand to the two of them in a last, desperate attempt to somehow reach out to them.
Mash’s bloodied corpse as she got pierced by the Alien God’s light weapons again and again, unable to fight them anymore, her shield broken on the ground, as she shielded her Master in a last, desperate attempt to protect her from her fate…
The horror of the realization that all Ritsuka had done in the past had been for naught, as the Alien God and his disciples seized the Earth and saw their plan to fruition, and she was kept alive, tortured by the sight of everything that she had ever loved being destroyed and erased…
Ritsuka screamed more, clutching her head in her hands as she fell from the bench on her knees, tears streaming down her face as she remembered everything, including Moriarty’s selfish and desperate move right when she thought she was done for. He had kidnapped her almost lifeless, bloodied body while telling her that she was going to be ok, that everything was going to turn out right…
And then it hit her.
The life she had been living with him…everything she had been doing in the last weeks…everything had been a lie.
Ritsuka left out another painful wail as her head hurt so much, like it was about to explode. Then everything turned dark.
James Moriarty looked at his arch nemesis as he caught the fainting body of his beloved in his arms, squeezing it to his chest like it was the most precious thing he ever had. Which was probably the truth anyways. The scenery around them glitched even more, slowly turning darker and darker. The street disappeared, the trees faded, the buildings got blurred, only the bench remained.
“Why are you here, Holmes?” If his words alone could kill, Holmes would have been killed at least three times already. “You won. The Alien God should have no real interest in a broken human anymore.” James growled.
“They do not like being defied.” Holmes stated, not moving an inch. To anyone else, he would have seemed like he was indifferent to that whole situation. But Moriarty could tell that deep down, he felt uneasiness and even remorse.
“And they said I was the evil one. Look at you now, following the orders of a bloodthirsty deity that wants his petty revenge on a young girl that cannot pose any harm any more.” Moriarty spoke like his words were venom, standing up while carrying Ritsuka’s unconscious body to the bench. The whole world around them had now completely disappeared into darkness, only the white, dusty ground remaining.
Holmes smirked painfully. “I am not following his orders. I was worried for her. Her life is running short.” He pointed at Ritsuka, still not moving on the bench.
James Moriarty’s face shifted from anger to pure sadness. He caressed Ritsuka’s tear-stained cheek, wiping away the tears, then fixed a bit her hair. “Do you think I don’t know that?”
“Then why…” Holmes could not finish his question.
“Isn’t that obvious?” Moriarty interrupted him, turning his head towards the tall man, anger and desperation appearing on his face once more. “I want her to be happy in her final moments. I want her to feel loved, safe, and cared for. I want to give her a glimpse of what her life could have been if she had not been dragged in such a cruel, horrible farce.” Moriarty’s words were harsh, his voice almost breaking down. “If I could just rewrite history and give her a peaceful life, I would burn the whole world down with no hesitation or remorse. I would cheat, steal, murder, commit every sin you could imagine just to keep her beautiful smile on her face even for a single more second…” He went on, not even sure he was really talking to anyone in particular. “But I cannot do that. Even I need to accept that the Alien God has won. But that still doesn’t prevent me from trying to keep her away from pain.”
Holmes spoke again, dryly stating the obvious. “But this is a lie.” Despite his obvious discomfort, there was no judgement in his voice.
Moriarty clicked his tongue. “What good would the truth do to her now? Her life force is being slowly drained away as the Alien God gains power. She is still sustaining her link with me, keeping me here with her, even if she doesn’t realize it…she really loves me, Holmes.” James Moriarty had to stop at the realization that his voice was cracking. He gulped. “And I love her. So, I decided that she will die peacefully in a kind, gentle reality, and I will die with her.” He concluded, caressing her forehead.
Holmes remained silent, his green eyes looking at the man that once was his arch nemesis as he placed a soft kiss on his lover’s lips. He felt his heart becoming even heavier than before.
As an apostle of the Alien God, he should have been following his master’s order to crush that small, weird singularity that the Archer servant had created in the furthest place on Earth, as it was deemed a nuisance that could taint the perfection of their win. And yet, he had never had any real intention of doing it, because he knew that it was going to fade on its own very soon.
He had volunteered to go and see how things were to avoid any other interference in it, and also because he really wanted to see just one last time Miss Fujimaru, who, despite what others might have thought, had been very dear to him, like a sort of younger sibling he had to care for and guide through life.
“Look where we are now.” Were the only words that escaped Holmes’ mouth, but he knew that Moriarty would understand.
“Yes, look at where we are now.” Moriarty nodded, still not looking at him.
Holmes shook his head. “I feel somehow glad I was able to see her one last time…and see how at the end of it all, you somehow managed to redeem yourself and be selfless.” Holmes knew that the Alien God had proposed Moriarty to join their ranks. They had offered him power and freedom, and he had accepted…only to betray them, kidnapping Ritsuka and bringing her away. Holmes could have prevented that, but he had decided to not act at all.
“I hope I never see you again for the rest of my life, Holmes.” Were the only words that escaped the Professor’s lips as he took Ritsuka’s body again in his arms and started to walk away from him in the darkness. “The Alien God will pay, after all is said and done.”
Holmes turned around as well, not speaking another word, walking away from that small, sad singularity that was going to fade too soon.
_______________
“James?” Ritsuka asked as she opened her eyes, finding herself on the bed again. The blankets were soft and smelled of flowers, and James was holding her close.
“Yes, dearest?” He asked softly. His face was even more handsome than usual. How could that be?
“I had a nightmare. People dying, the world ending…” She whispered, gulping. “Please hold me and tell me everything will be ok.” She pleaded, trying hard to not cry. She could not remember clearly what her dream was about, but it had been painful, scary and sad. “Hold me, please.” She repeated.
James smiled, hiding his pain, pulling her closer to him and kissing her softly. "Of course, my love. Everything will be ok. It was just a bad dream. You’ll be fine. I'm here with you, after all. right?” He comforted her as she sighed.
“Yes, you are right…you’re here with me…everything will be fine.” Ritsuka muttered as she fell asleep again, nuzzling her face in the curve of his neck, relaxing and feeling better.
She did not wake up again.
_______________
A loud beep shook Holmes as he pondered over the situation related to the small singularity that Moriarty created.
It had been an amazing feat, impressive even for a genius like him. Moriarty had managed to create a sort of virtual space that he could change to his liking, recreating an entire city based just on the memories of his own Master, who still shared a link with him. He had partially blocked her memories to hide the sad outcome of their battle, and locked her in a fake reality for the small time frame that she had left, before the Alien God managed to drain all her life force for good.
When the Alien God had captured Ritsuka, Holmes had thought that they would kill her on the spot. After all, there had been no reason for the Alien God to let her live. However, they had decided somehow to let her live as a prisoner, probably to let her despair and regret opposing them, or so Holmes had supposed. Cosmic entities could apparently be really petty. He had started to devise a plan to free her, or at least give her a much less painful sentence, but Moriarty had decided to act before him and kidnap her.
With nowhere really safe to go, Moriarty had devised and put in action a convoluted plan to let her live her last days in peace. The mighty Napoleon of Crime may have accepted he had lost and fighting was futile, but had still tried to oppose his enemy one last time.
Holmes could not really decide if Moriarty’s actions were kind or cruel. Surely, during her stay in that small fake reality, Ritsuka had remembered the truth more than once, as she was still pretty resistant to mind manipulation. That would mean that Moriarty always had to lock away her memories again and again, a process that surely was not pleasant for both of them.
That was a question that probably would never have an answer, as a loud beep made him look to his left, at a terminal in his room. He saw a red text flashing on the screen. He gasped and got up suddenly, rushing to it.
Singularity M has been resolved and has disappeared from the planet.
The alert said.
Holmes exhaled a deep sigh, not really knowing how to feel. So she had died…and his arch nemesis with her. The singularity was sustaining itself on their life force, draining it more and more, and it was just a matter of time until Ritsuka would be completely drained and die…bringing Moriarty and that small fake reality with her.
Sherlock Holmes gulped, and a tear fell on his face. He could not even say a proper goodbye to the girl…he wiped that tear away and closed the notification on the terminal, only to be shaken by the loud beep of another big red notification soon after.
Despite what the text said, he laughed.
The Alien God will pay, after all is said and done.
Moriarty had said, and it seemed like he was actually telling the truth. How blind Holmes had been to not see that coming? Or did he really not see it?
No, he had realized what would happen as soon as he had heard those words, but had decided to say nothing. He turned away from the terminal, letting the notification blink on its screen.
Danger! A huge meteor is heading towards earth. It said.
He went out to the big balcony in the Alien God’s lair, where a somehow composed, but clearly annoyed Rasputin was standing as well, looking at the sky. The big flaming orb that looked like it was approaching slowly was almost too familiar.
“The seventh bullet…” Holmes muttered, taking his pipe from his pocket and lighting it before putting his hands on the handrail.
“Did you really not foresee this, mighty detective?” Rasputin’s question had a not so veiled sarcastic tone, but Holmes did not react.
“The magic was supposed to work only once, and that happened in the Shinjuku Singularity. But I suppose that after being summoned again in Chaldea, it got somehow reset…” He explained, feeling even a bit amused by it all.
“But the beloved one of the shooter is dead…like the shooter itself.” Rasputin was right, the original tale was different.
Holmes shrugged. “He always was a master in tweaking things to his advantage. I can imagine one or two ways in which he did this. Not that it matters much at this point.”
“Aren’t you going to do something to stop it?” Rasputin asked dryly, apparently satisfied with his brief explanation. After all, he cared little about the how and when of a dead man’s actions.
Holmes shook his head, turning around to approach a table with two chairs close to the balcony railing, admiring the fiery view as he sat down. “I’m sure you already have everything that’s needed to stop this and your plan is already in motion. I’ll just enjoy the view and honor my good friend’s memory, as she died after fighting bravely in a challenge that she could not win from the start. And also my arch-enemy’s memory, toasting at his belated, final win.”
Rasputin laughed. That man was difficult to decipher even for Holmes. He should have been enraged and ashamed, and yet he was calm and even glad. “I suppose there’s a first time for everyone…” He said, before shrugging. “I’ll bring some wine. Is red good?”
Holmes nodded. “Yes. Red is good.”
After all, blood was red as well.