Broken Men

John once remembered something that Mycroft had said to him what seemed like an entire lifetime ago. It had been the first time he had ever met Mycroft, or rather the first time Mycroft had ever kidnapped John. He had said 'when you walk with Sherlock, you see a battlefield.' A battlefield indeed. But while living with Sherlock had been frustrating and trying, even at the best of times, John's life without Sherlock had been nothing but bloody torture. without Sherlock, John was waging a battle every goddamn day of his life trying to keep going.