✔️THE HEART| Sherlock Holmes

Twelve

Marnie Hart hummed gently to herself as she waved her flashlight around, following Henry Knight with Sherlock Holmes on one side and John Watson on the other. They'd collected their client and now they were taking him to the place he least wanted to be-- The moors where his father was attacked... At night, it seemed like a solid plan. Sherlock decided they'd take him out and simply wait to see if anything attacked him- John wasn't too pleased with the idea but given that the only new evidence Henry could provide was the new occurrence of the words 'LIBERTY' and 'IN' cropping up repetitively in his memory... They had to start looking for clues of their own.

"Scared yet Marnie?" Sherlock winked down at her, their hands clamped together and John was slightly impressed to see the Consulting Detective's blue scarf around the girls neck comfortably.

"Why would I be when I have my detective boyfriend to keep me safe?" she mocked and he chuckled, tugging her along gently. Though, Marnie told herself she wasn't scared, as the trees appeared around them- she was forced to fight nervousness as memories resurfaced of the time Jim Moriarty kidnapped her and she was forced out into the woods alone. She was certain that the memories of that time would never go away but she wasn't going to bring it up now- or ever, for that matter, if she could at all help it.

When Sherlock helped her over a log, he proceeded to follow though their hands were dragged apart by the motion. Marnie's eyes shifted through the trees in search of any form of clue and landed on John who was frowning into the distance. She calmly retraced her steps back to him and found where he was staring, taking his torch calmly as he began to translate morsecode from the flashes in the sky.

"That's not a word" John chuckled and she looked down at his letters.

"No, that's right though. That's what it said" she confirmed and they just looked at one another for a moment. Marnie wasn't scared, stood there beside John, he was her 'older brother' in all things except biology- she knew that she could count on him no matter what and he felt the exact same. She'd already saved his life once before and he was positive she would do the same again. "Oh, they're gone" she frowned and John followed her gaze toward the absence of one annoying detective and one equally annoying client.

"This way" John decided, easily taking her hand in an entirely platonic gesture as he leveraged her along- they were far too brave for their own good. Bravery could definitely sometimes lead to stupidity. The smart idea would have been to wait at the fringe of the trees for the consulting detective to return but of course. They couldn't just stand and do nothing. John and Marnie looked around, torches raised suspiciously to the night as they whisper-yelled for their third housemate... It felt as though they had to be quiet here, in the darkness of the forest, or else risk real danger.

A metallic thud stopped them in their tracks and the pair frowned at one another in confused curiosity- somehow, their stupid bravery hadn't allowed them to feel any fear just yet and Marnie cautiously considered when her senses would return. The thudding only continued from then on and Marnie and John walked suspiciously through the trees.

"John?" Marnie whispered uncertainly and he looked back at her, tightening his hand around hers reassuringly as he smiled. She didn't like this, the parallels being drawn between the horrors she had faced all those months ago and the uncertainty of the present but she trusted John and his continued absence of fear calmed her tremendously.

"Look" he chuckled and gestured to where rainwater was splashing off of a fallen branch onto a discarded rusted bit of metal- it soothed her for a short moment, before her nervousness spiked in full force and the two of them whipped around simultaneously as they heard a howl in the distance- it shot shivers right the way along Marnie's spine and she and the doctor exchanged uncertain looks as a bit of fear opened in each of their hearts. They put on a brave face but they were scared now, if only just a little bit. "Run, Marns" he implored, dragging her along and she didn't need to be told twice as the forest tred beneath her and her torch flashed wawardly around the trees in her shuddering hands.