florence - enola holmes

we aren't finished yet!

home - edward shape & the magnetic zeros

i catch back up with enola and we begin to walk down the busy sidewalk.
we approach a man handing out newspapers, and he gives us one.
"thank you." enola and i say at the same time.
we walk a couple steps away from the man and open the newspaper, looking for our 'letter' back from mother.
we both skim the page until our eyes fall on the correct section.
'2- 45255   33151545   3315   4335551132
11131114153355   21245215   45353424
222345   333545231543'
"mother." i whisper, looking at enola who looks back at me before walking back to the man who gave us the newspaper.
"may i borrow your pencil?" shes asks, taking the pencil, whispering a thank you, and walking back to me.
she lays the newspaper down with one of the small cards mother got us for our birthday on top.
she turns the small thing, and begins to speak.

*enola*

numbers turn into letters,
which forms into,

five, two, five, five, three, three, one, one, one, one.

she continues whispering the numbers to me as i turn the decoder.
"meet me royal academy five tonight mother." enola reads aloud.

*flora*

well, that's unexpected.

"thank you." enola says, handing the pencil back to the man.

there are three thoughts that immediately occur.
one; is that mother wouldn't of signed mother, but chrysanthemum.
and two; the royal academy is an institution that has consistently neglected to include women.
mother wouldn't of suggested this a meeting place.

*enola*

and a final thought is that i may have revealed my hand in front of my brother when checking the newspaper.

i look at enola confused, when did such a thing occur?

this is sherlock holmes's doing.

she begins to walk away as i stand there confused.

and yet, facts don't distract from hope.

she grabs my hand and pulls me towards the man we got the newspaper from, who is now accompanied by another man.
"i'll pay you each five pounds to swap clothes with us." enola says, a big smile on her face.
i smile as well, really trying to seal the deal.

third person pov-

"anything?" sherlock holmes asks to his brother.
"nothing at all." he replies as they stand under an arch way at the royal academy, "they've beat you once before, little brother, and now they may have done so again."
"oh, i do believe they thought it me, but i also believe that they'd be too intrigued not to be here all the same." sherlock says, never taking his eyes off the busy area.
mycroft slightly turns to him, "unfortunately, you were wrong."
sherlock laughs and finally takes his eyes off the grand area, "it's possible," he says, "nevertheless, if we do find them again, i'd like them to be my wards. i'll take care of them."
"well..." mycroft sighs, "on your head be it. i washed my hands of them."
"very well. all the better."
"you are a strange fish, little brother."
"and you're a cantankerous one, older brother. i assume you're being so delightful because of the vote?"
"passed by one. that re-emerging little toadstool, the marquess of tewkesbury, and his vote proved decisive. now, as much as i enjoy standing outside the royals academy-" mycroft says, getting cut off my his younger brother.
"he's an interesting character, you know?"
"hmm?" mycroft hums.
"and i suspect he's rather keen on young florence."
"then he should marry her. maybe it'll tame them both," he begins, walking slightly away from sherlock, "drink at the club to commiserate me?"
"yes, i'll buy you a drink, mycroft." he says, walking behind his older brother.
he walks a ways behind mycroft, being caught off guard by something on the large statue.
he walks over to it, and picks up two things.
dash and princess cordelia.
he looks around, until being called by mycroft, "come on, sherlock!"
he places both things down where they once were, and walks towards his brother.
mycroft begins to walk down a corridor, taking a coin out of his pocket and placing it down in front of two men, grabbing a newspaper from their stack.

flora's pov-

enola and i sit side by side, both dressed as men with our heads down and legs spread.
a man walks by us, dropping a coin and taking a newspaper.
enola sits up, followed by me, as we look down the corridor to where he went.
we both smile to ourselves as another man walks past us.
"what on earth were you doing?" mycroft asks.
"thought i saw something." sherlock states, wiping the smiles off of both of our faces.

we walk towards the large statue, enola grabbing dash as i grab princess cordelia.
we both admire a piece of our childhood.
life was so much simpler back then.

we enter our lodging home, as the lady greets us, "good afternoon enola, florence."
we reply in sync, "good afternoon."
"you have a visitor." the lady says, walking into a different room.
i look at enola confused, the same look on her face as well.
we walk up the stairs and open the door to our beautiful room.
only to be met with,
our mother?
enola and i look at her in shock, confusion, too many feelings that are running through our minds.
she inhaled sharply. "this is a surprisingly nice room. i like the finishing touches."
i grab enolas hand, not knowing if this was real or not.
my eyes start to tear up.
"i cant stay long. people might be watching." she says, walking towards the bed enola and i shared as i shut the door, still holding onto enolas hand.
"how on earth did you find those?" she asks us, looking down at the pinecone and flower we were holding.
"sherlock did." enola tells her.
"i thought you had forgotten them. you never could leave them alone as little girls. you used to bring them around everywhere-"
"sherlock said." i tell her, finally finding the emotion i felt.
annoyance.
she can't just come into our lives again, and expect everything to be the same.
"enola you'd heard queen victoria had-"
"sherlock said that too." she says, nodding her head slightly.
"well... nice that you three have connected." mother says as i fidget with the dead flower in my hands, "i'm sorry." she states, after a few moments of silence repeating herself, "i'm sorry. i wanted to tell you where i was going, but it wasn't safe."
"are you safe now?" i ask, walking towards her.
"i didn't leave you because i didn't love you two." she begins as she looks between us both, "i left for you both... because i couldn't bear... to have this world be your future. so i had to fight. you have to make some noise if you want to be heard." she tells us.
i begin to tear up again, looking down so no one can tell.
"oh, it's funny." she says chuckling, "i thought... i was the one that was going to change the world."
i look back up at her as tears threaten to overflow.
"the reform bill, is it true what you two did?" she asks causing us both to laugh, sniffling a bit.
"what women you've become."
enola and i both fight back tears, i look up slightly to stop them causing mother to laugh and begin to cry as well.
i take a deep breath as enola and i go for a hug at the same time.
after a few moments we lean back, mother looking at us both.
we start to laugh as she places a kiss on both of our foreheads.
"thank you for your irises. now, if you ever... ever need me. i'll be looking out for them." she whispers to us.
"you have to go." enola tells her as mother pulls us back in for a hug.
"yes but... let's just stay like this for a bit."
"i'd like that too." i whisper as we all stand there hugging and soaking in mother's presence.

*enola*

so, how to conclude?
my name is enola, which, backwards, spells "alone."

*flora*

and my name is florence, or flora for short.
to be a holmes, you must find your own path.
our brothers have,
our mother has,
and we must too.
but we now know that being alone doesn't mean we have to be lonely.
mother never wanted that.
she wanted us to find our freedom,
our future,
our purpose,
and eachother.
we are detectives,
we are decipherer's,
and we are finders of lost souls.
our life is our own.
and the future is up to us.

we aren't finished yet!

love,
florence

authors note !
i didn't think finishing this story would be as sad as it is.
writing this for all of you has brought me such joy!
i hope all of you liked the story, and if you did maybe check out my book luke patterson fic called 'falling' AND my newest fic 'as it was ~ conrad fisher'!!
but i really hope you loved this and how it turned out!
i really hope a second movie happens because i would love to make a sequel to this book!
i hope you're all staying healthy and safe, ily <3