Holmes Killing Holmes Killing Holmes

Five Years Ago

Mycroft could still hear the nonsensical song that Moriarty had been humming. The man had done it to put Mycroft off, to cause him to falter in his steps. Moriarty forgot which Holmes he was messing with.

Then again, maybe Mycroft forgot as well. These things were hard to tell when Eurus was involved.

He had just returned from the trip. Christmas had gone by with all of the usual flair. Mummy had called them for the holiday, Sherlock ignored the summons, and Mycroft had to attend to keep Mummy from worrying.

Sherlock had excused himself from the annual family holiday by spending time with the people. It seemed Doctor Watson had more influence than he believed, inviting their peers in New Scotland Yard to 221b, as well as the mortician who thought herself in love with Sherlock. The landlady was de facto for the event.

Mycroft was planning to call his brother, praising him on his social skills. Let his brother remember the dangers of getting close to people.

'I want to break free.'

The song played in his head again. Mycroft pushed it away, annoyed at it's resurgence. There had been no need for that silly tune. There had been no need to antagonize over things beyond his control.

'Five minutes...without cameras.'

It wasn't beyond his control, though. Mycroft could contain this before it would ever be an issue.

The moment the five minutes had ended, Mycroft had the guards pull Moriarty from the room. They moved him to a cell for briefing. Two of the biggest threats to national security were alone for five minutes. Wars have been started in less time, with less intelligent people.

Eurus Holmes would never be free. She couldn't be. There was too much at stake.

==HKHKH==

The year had been almost over when everything was falling apart.

Moriarty had been released into the world, again. Mycroft likened it to exposing a wound to a poison to strengthen the body against it. He had anticipated something catastrophic to happen. It hadn't been the death of Ms Adler.

Mycroft met Sherlock at the mortuary. His brother was (and Sherlock would deny it til the day he died) emotional over the whole affair.

They walked silently to the mortuary.

Sherlock was already shaking. He would be looking for his fix upon returning to Baker Street.

Mycroft led him to the body of Ms Adler. She had been draped in a sheet, more decency than she'd shown in her life. It was a bitter reflection of when Sherlock had first heard of Ms Adler. Their

If Mycroft were so inclined, he'd call it poetic.

If Mycroft were so inclined, he'd think Eurus planned this.

It wasn't so beyond the realm of possibility. One could never know with his sister. This could all be the first play of a bigger game. The first move in the final problem. The first blood in a war between siblings.

It wouldn't matter. Eurus would not be free. No plan of her's and Moriarty's would give her enough room to be free. There was too much at stake.

If it cost Sherlock his stability, well he never had much to begin with.

==HKHKH==

Then Mycroft sold his brother to Moriarty. He'd trapped a fly in the spider's web.

==HKHKH==

He'd known it was the bad call. Moriarty hadn't given away much of his and Eurus' plan, not for how much he got on Sherlock. According to Moriarty, she'd come up with the code to hack into any building. He didn't put it past his sister. She would create a code to unlock her doors, stuck

For a few months, though, it was right.

Then the bank robbery.

Then the crown jewels were broken into.

Then the jail opened.

Not Sherrinford. Thank God not Sherrinford.

Mycroft suspected it was a test run, at first. For all of Eurus' genius, she still ran tests to confirm.

If Moriarty had used this on Sherrinford...England would be lost.

Mycroft threw Sherlock at it. His brother was sure to stop Moriarty this time. He was the only Holmes that wasn't comprised.

Not for long.

'Sherlock...I'm sorry.'

==HKHKH==

Sherlock Holmes had died. He did it a disgrace, a mockery of a detective.

In actuality, it was to protect his only three friends from snipers. So Sherlock had explained to Mycroft after the fact.

Died, because Mycroft had shared their past with the consulting criminal, to get back at their sister.

Moriarty had died too, if that meant anything. Mycroft knew better to assume that the man's death meant that Eurus' plan had failed. Look at what happened with Victor. They'd never found a body yet he was most certainly dead, and Eurus had been pleased with herself until this very day.

Mycroft had held onto the belief he'd convinced Sherlock that caring was not an advantage. They were supposed to be better than their emotional sister, who killed a boy for the reaction of others and taunted Sherlock with the solution for months. His affair with Irene had been a quick fling, a nail in the coffin. Doctor Watson had made his way to Sherlock's heart, to bring it back from the void that Eurus and Victor had left there.

If he wasn't absolutely certain the doctor would break his legs out of principle, Mycroft would give the man a hug.

==HKHKH==

Years later, when Sherlock knew about Eurus and her five minutes with Moriarty, Mycroft did something he rarely did these days.

He said sorry.

Sherlock, the mature one, had only held his brother's shoulder. Mycroft knew he had many ways to go before his brother could trust him again.

He accepted that.

Mycroft knew that Eurus would never be let out of Sherrinford. She was content in her cell now, with visits from Sherlock to play on their violins.

It was the happiest Mycroft had seen Sherlock since the days of Victor.

Mycroft watched on his CCTV as Sherlock and John lived their days at Baker Street, with Rosie.

The young girl would blossom under the loving attentions of her fathers. John Watson's steady nature, his caring heart, and his understanding of the Holmes mind would pay off in the real world. Sherlock Holmes' knowledge of the sciences, nearly everything under the sun, and now positive outlook, would make sure Rosie Watson-Holmes could open any door she wanted.

And if Mycroft saw the innocence his sister had once had, if he saw that she'd be so much like her father you'd forget she had a mother, if Mycroft stopped being the Ice Man around her,

Then that's none of your business.

==HKHKH==

AN: I had the idea for this as soon as I saw the prompt. Sorry it's taken forever and a day to publish.