Consulting Sniper (Moran's Story)

Chapter 24: The Final Problem (Part I)

*This was uploaded a lot later than it should have been; my apologies! Anyway, just so you know, this version of Reichenbach is not exactly the same as the one from BBC Sherlock. I had to choose which version to use, the one from the books or the one from the show and I chose the book... You'll see why. I hope you enjoy it; let me know what you think about this Reichenbach as well!*

In the Spring of 2035, I was planning my wedding with Jim at the same time I was planning the death of Sherlock Holmes.

We woke up on the day we were supposed to leave, both of us groggy and late to leave. That was already a bad omen.

"Jim, we gotta go," I said to my fiancee, who was sitting up in bed sweating.

"Something wrong?"

"I died. In my dream about Reichenbach. I went over the falls. Sherlock pushed me over. And that was all."

I pulled Jim into my arms, and we lay there for another few minutes. "You're not gonna die," I told Jim over and over again. "You can't die."

I was on the train to the town of Reichenbach with Jim two days before the events of the ending of "The Final Problem" took place. We were finalizing everything and getting ready to finish what we had begun nearly a decade before with the Holmes sisters, and we were so happy to be done with it all finally.

"This absolutely cannot fail," Jim said to me on the train that day, smiling. It was so contradictory to what I'd seen earlier from him, so I just smiled and agreed with Jim. Maybe he was just humoring me.

That was, of course, before the plans that we had so painstakingly designed came crashing down.

We were staying at a small hotel near the Reichenbach Falls that was more like a tiny cottage. It was named the Englischer Hof. The small Swedish town was largely unpopulated, and not many of those people actually spoke English.

The day before the fall, Jim and I stayed at the hotel all day. At dusk, we left and hiked up to the Reichenbach Falls itself. It was a large waterfall that was larger than most buildings in London; a natural wonder that seemed so out of place in the world that we lived in but fit in so well in its very immediate surroundings.

The whole business made me very ill at ease, and I asked Jim about this on that very night.

"Are you sure you still want to confront Sherlock here tomorrow? Are you entirely positive that you will succeed, Jim?"

"No chance in hell that I'll fail."

That night, we also watched as Sherlock, following the route we'd perfectly laid out for her, checked into the hotel with her companion Watson.

.................................

The next morning, Jim woke up early. It was the day of the fall. He paid the boy to deliver the note about the patient who needed attention to Watson, and Watson then proceeded to very timely make his exit.

Time went by almost like a blur. In just a few hours, Moriarty and Sherlock were up by the falls. Completely unbeknownst to me, they were also physically fighting by the falls as well, both trying to push each other over the falls.

I did not wake up until a little after noon that day. But when I did wake up, it was to the realization that Jim was no longer next to me. But there was a note on the bedside table.

Dear Tiger,

I know you're probably angry with me for not telling you the final problem with the plan that we had formed.

The final problem is this: Sherlock is VERY intelligent. More so than I had ever thought...

If it should occur that I die today instead of Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach falls, you should know this:

I never meant to cause you any hardship as a result of my actions. I did not realize that it would end up this way.

There's something else. The syndicate is dissolving. All those people didn't quit; they were caught by Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes. You must protect yourself as well.

Sherlock never knew we were engaged. Don't give her, or Mycroft for that matter, any reason to speculate. If I go over the falls, throw your ring over the falls as well. No one should ever know about it.

My body should be identified by you and buried here at Reichenbach. I want there to be no trace.

I loved you when I was alive. I'll still love you in death. I love you. And let it be known to all the universe that I have loved you and only you since the day I met you! And I await the day when I can hold you in my arms once more, in hell...

Love, Jim Moriarty

My eyes went wide. Jim was most certainly dead. I got dressed quickly, grabbed my best pistol and old high-school regulation rifle and ran out my hotel room door. People stared at me as I ran down the block toward the waterfall in shorts and sandals, carrying two guns.

I could not give less of a fuck. Jim was dead. The syndicate was dissolving. And Jim was dead.

When I reached the rocks by the side of the waterfall, I concealed myself behind a tall boulder. I took a few deep breaths.

Jim was nowhere to be seen.