Ficlet: Matter

[spacemutineer]

Title: Matter
Author: spacemutineer
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: death
Word Count: 172
Author's Notes: My first BBC fic, actually, and my first prompt fill in a very long time.
Prompt: from comment-fic: Sherlock BBC, John / or + Sherlock, AU, John makes a bargain with a demon or the devil. In exchange for his own soul Sherlock will be resurrected from the grave.


"I have to see it," he says.

He's out the door before John can stop him.

Down in the morgue, he finally pauses his furious motion, his hand clamped on the drawer. He pauses, but only for the space of a single living heartbeat.

The drawer slides open with a high metallic squeal. Sherlock's body, the other one, the dead one, lies motionless, staring at the cheap industrial ceiling tiles with its empty glass eyes. The bullet hole in the center of its bare white chest looks so much smaller now than the first time John saw it.

"How?" Sherlock says, his face up close to the corpse, his hands with their delicate blue veins dancing over it, examining it for any explanation. All he finds instead are questions. "Who is this? What is this? I don't understand. John, how did you do this? What have you done?"

Sherlock blinks at him. And breathes. And shakes. And lives.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Sherlock. It doesn't matter anymore."

Comments

[hardboiledbaby]

Mmm, I was hoping to see this prompt filled! Very nicely done, thanks for sharing.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you! I only found the site because of your posting, so thank you for that too!

[hardboiledbaby]

Yay! One can never have too many prompts, amirite? *nods firmly and ignores teetering stack of WIPs* ;)

[ennui-enigma.livejournal.com]

Nicely written! Had to check out your profile since you've been such a great moderator on Sherlock60 :-)

I really like the line "He pauses, but only for the space of a single living heartbeat."

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! I don't post as much as I'd like here -- I'm notorious for my extensive collection of half-concocted stories lying around waiting for me to finish them up. I'm glad you found something you liked! :)

[ennui-enigma.livejournal.com]

Well, if one pokes around enough, there's interesting things to be found :-D You might end up with a tin box of a collection of stories like Watson one day!