The Final Problem (Part 4)

(Open POV)

Meadow...

Young Sherlock running across the meadow, then a close-up of the gravestone of Nemo Holmes and its impossible dates, then a fuzzy out-of-focus shot of something round and dark blue, then of young Sherlock sitting in the graveyard reading a book, then of Redbeard barking and running through the water at the beach, and young Sherlock running towards him while his little sister stands nearby and watches.

Room...

"Hello?" The girl asked, her voice over the earpiece.

Lights come on and an overhead shot shows that Sherlock is in a very small rectangular room with black walls and floor. Most of the room is taken up by a rectangular wooden table, about six feet long and maybe three feet wide. There are chairs either side and a lit lantern is on the floor. Sherlock is sprawled face down on top of the table. Some time since he was rendered unconscious, someone has dressed him in his greatcoat. He starts to wake up.

"Hello? Are you still there?" The girl asked, her voice over the earpiece.

Groaning, Sherlock pushes himself up onto his arms, putting one hand to the side of his head. It seems that the girl's voice is coming from an earpiece rather than from speakers in the room.

Plane / Room...

"Yes. Yeah; no, I'm-I'm still here. I'm here." Sherlock said, weakly.

On the plane, the girl is sitting on the floor outside the open door of one of the toilets.

"You went away. You said you'd help me and you went away." The girl said, talking into the phone, still sounding upset and tearful.

"Yes, I know. Well, I'm sorry about that. We-we-we must have got cut off. Um ..." Sherlock said, turning onto one elbow, his other hand still at his ear.

Sherlock looks around the room, then screws up his eyes and shakes his head hard, probably trying to clear his mind of the effects of the sedative. He starts to sit up.

"How-how-how long was I away?" Sherlock asked.

"Hours. Hours and hours. Why don't grown-ups tell the truth?" The girl asked.

"No, I-I am telling the truth. You can trust me." Sherlock said, his hand now lowered from his ear.

"Where did you go?" The girl asked.

Sherlock looks up. There is a large metal grille in the ceiling and the night sky can be seen above it. Although the sky is mostly cloudy, part of it is clear and shows a full moon.

"I'm not completely sure." Sherlock said, sliding his legs around to the side of the table, before sitting on the edge of the table and looks around at the walls, then slowly stands. "Um, now, I tell you what. You-you've got to be really, really brave for me." He leans down and picks up the lantern from the floor and keeps talking as he walks across to one of the walls, holding up the lantern. "Can you go to the front of the plane? Can you do that?"

"The front?" The girl asked.

"Yes."

The light from the lantern shows that many pictures have been stuck to the walls. All of the nearby ones are large photographs of young Sherlock. Some of them have had part of the photo ripped off.

"That's right; the front." Sherlock said.

"You mean where the driver is?" The girl asked.

"Yes, that's it." Sherlock said, continuing to walk around the room, shining the lantern on the many photos.

"Okay." The girl said, starting to get up from the floor. "I'm going."

The girl starts to walk down the aisle, pausing and looking down at the unconscious flight attendant lying in her way. Sherlock continues looking at the photos. Some of them are of Sherlock at older ages than his young pirate self and a few pictures are of other members of the Holmes family.

"Are you there yet?" Sherlock asked.

Well / Plane / Room...

It's not the girl who replies but John and Jared, who jerks awake somewhere dark. The wall behind them is bare rock.

"Yeah, I'm here." John said, standing up abruptly when he realises that he's sitting in water up to his waist.

"Me too." Jared said, standing up and looking down at the water up to his waist. "Everything's well in hand."

"John! Jared!" Sherlock said, happily.

"Yeah." John said, his voice coming from Sherlock's earpiece.

"Where are the both of you?"

"I don't know. We've just woken up. Where are you?"

"I'm in another cell. I just spoke to the girl on the plane again. We've been out for hours." Sherlock said.

"What, she's still up there?" John asked.

"Yes." Sherlock said, his voice comes over John's and Jared's earpieces. "The plane will keep flying until it runs out of fuel." John looks around and raises his head to look upwards. "Is Mycroft with the two of you?"

"I have no idea. We can hardly see anything." John said, calling out. "Mycroft? Mycroft?"

"Mycroft? Earth to Mikey!" Jared said, angrily.

Sherlock runs his hand over his face, looking worried when there's no reply, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." John said, happily.

"Yup. We are." Jared said, smiling.

"All right. Well, just keep exploring. Tell me anything you can about where you are." Sherlock said, as he continues walking around the room and looking at the photos, John turns and squints through the darkness behind him and Jared.

"The walls are ..." John said, putting a hand on the wall and feels it. "... rough. They're rock, I guess."

"What are you and Jared standing on?" Sherlock asked.

"Uh, stone, I think. But listen: there's about two feet of water." John said, looking down.

"I've been through worse." Jared said, trying to lift one of his feet, but then feels resistance towards his foot under the water and shows what's causing the resistance. "Especially while traveling with the Doctor. Chains." He shakes his head. "Our feet are chained up, Sherlock."

"I can feel something." John said, bending down and moves his hand blindly through the water until his fingers touch something floating there. Clasping his hand around what he's found, he straightens up and runs the fingers of his other hand over his discovery. "Bones, Sherlock."

Sherlock sees something under the table and turns to look at it.

"There's bones in here. That's horrible." Jared said, sadly.

Sherlock kneels down, puts the lantern onto the floor and reaches towards the round ceramic bowl under the table, "What kind of bones?"

"Don't know. They look rather small." Jared said, letting out a sigh.

Sherlock lifts up the bowl and holds it in both hands as he looks at it in shock. Painted on the side of the bowl is the word 'Redbeard'. Clearly this is a dog's water bowl.

"Redbeard." Sherlock said, softly, closing his eyes.

"Who's Redbeard?" The girl asked, her voice in Sherlock's earpiece.

Sherlock jolts, sinking his face into one hand as he replies to the little girl, "Oh, hello. Are you at the front of the plane now?"

"Yeah. I still can't wake the driver up." The girl said, in the flight deck, shaking the arm of the unconscious pilot.

In front of the pilot, the control column is jerking around under its automatic controls, and an automated voice repeatedly calls out warnings.

"That's all right. What can you see now?" Sherlock asked, wiping the corner of one eye.

"I can see a river." The girl said, looking through the front windshield and she steps over the co-pilot lying on the floor to get closer to the front. "And there's-there's-there's a big wheel."

"All right. Well, you and I are going to have to drive this plane together." Sherlock said, slowly standing, looking up towards the sky. "Just you and me."

"We are?" The girl asked, nervously.

"Yeah, there's nothing to it." Sherlock said, smiling so as to sound confident. "We just need to get in touch with some people on the ground." He bends down to pick up the lantern. "Now, um, can you see anything that looks like a radio?"

The girl, now sitting in the co-pilot's seat, looks around at all the dials and switches above her head and alarms continue to beep and the automated warnings continue to sound, "No."

"That's all right. Well, we ... keep looking. We've got plenty of time." Sherlock said, and in the flight deck more alarms sound and the automated voice calls out more warnings making the plane jolt violently and the girl screams. "What's wrong?"

"The whole plane's shaking." The girl said, sadly.

Sherlock grimaces but keeps his voice soothing.

Sherlock is walking around the room as he talks, "It's just turbulence. It's nothing to worry about."

"My ears hurt." The girl said.

"Does the river look like it's getting closer?" Sherlock asked.

"A-a little bit."

"All right, then. That means you're nearly home." Sherlock said, putting his hand to his head.

"Sherlock?" John asked, over Sherlock's earpiece.

High above John's head and Jared's head, clouds in the night sky drift past and the full moon comes into view. Its light now shows John's location and Jared's location more clearly. They stare upwards.

"We're in a well. That's where we are; Jared and I in the bottom of a well." John said, frowning.

"Hence why everything's well in hand." Jared said, laughing a lot. "I knew we were in a well full of bones."

"And you didn't bother to tell me." John said, still looking upwards.

Sherlock turns, frowning.

"Why would there be a well in Sherrinford?" Sherlock asked, raising the lantern and looks more closely at the array of photographs on the wall in front of him. "Why is there a draught?"

Sherlock zooms in on where two panels of the wall have a small gap between them and a photo of a teenage Sherlock stuck across the gap is fluttering slightly. Frowning, he lowers his gaze to the bottom of the wall. There's a small gap between the wall and the floor.

"Walls don't contract after you've painted them." Sherlock said, lifting his eyes, speaking softly, intensely. "Not real ones."

Sherlock has put the lantern onto the floor and he raises both hands and slams them hard against the wall. The entire wall falls outwards and drops to the ground outside. In front of him is a very familiar burnt-out house. He stares at it wide-eyed.

Musgrave Hall / Plane / Well...

"I'm home. Musgrave Hall." Sherlock said.

"Me and Jim Moriarty, we got on like a house on fire ..." Eurus said, over Sherlock's earpiece.

Sherlock bends and picks up the lantern and walks out of the 'room.' Behind him the other three walls fall out and crash to the ground.

"... which reminded me of home." Eurus said.

"Yeah, it's just an old building. I don't care. The plane; tell me about the plane NOW!" Sherlock said, walking towards the house.

"Sweet Jim. He was never very interested in being alive, especially if he could make more trouble being dead." Eurus said, over Sherlock's earpiece.

"Yeah, still not interested. The plane!"

"You knew he'd take his revenge. His revenge apparently is me."

"Eurus, let me speak to the little girl on the plane and I'll play any game you like." Sherlock said, reaching the front door, opening it and going inside.

"First find Redbeard." Eurus said, slowly, precisely.

Beside the stairs in the hallway, a screen is standing on top of a bureau or low cupboard which is covered with a sheet. The image of water is pouring down the screen but now is replaced by Eurus' face looking into the camera. The area behind her is dark.

"I'm letting the water in now. You don't want me to drown another one of your pets, do you? At long last, Sherlock Holmes, it's time to solve the Musgrave ritual." Eurus said, while Sherlock stumbles back from the screen. "Your very first case! And the final problem." Her voice drops to a whisper. "Oh. Bye-bye."

"Shit." Jared said, seeing water pouring down from the top. "Water..."

"Sherlock?" John asked.

Eurus' voice sings from John's and Jared's earpieces, "I that am lost / Oh, who will find me / Deep down below ..."

"Sherlock!" John said, terrified.

"Earth to Sherlock! Where are you?" Jared asked.

"The old beech tree?" Eurus asked, her voice still singing.

Perhaps hearing John's voice and Jared's voice from nearby as well as over his earpiece, Sherlock walks across the hall and opens the door to a room.

"Help succour me now ..." Eurus said, her voice still singing.

Going into the room, Sherlock stares at what he sees, "John. Jared."

"The East winds blow ..." Eurus said, her voice still singing.

Putting the lantern on the floor he hurries across the room and stares in shock at the screen on the wall. It shows that a camera is set partway up the well and is looking downwards as the water pours down onto his friends.

"John. Jared." Sherlock said, shouting. "John? Jared? Can you hear me? John! Jared!"

"Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go ..." Eurus said, her voice still singing.

In the flight deck of the plane, the girl screams again as the plane continues to shake violently, "Help me! Help me, please!"

"Sherlock!" John yelled, from the screen.

"Sherlock!" Jared said, from the screen.

Sherlock had his hand to his earpiece as the girl spoke but now he lowers it, staring intensely at the screen.

"Be not afraid ..." Eurus said, her voice still singing.

Eurus' song continues as the boys talk.

"John. Jared." Sherlock said, sadly.

"Yeah, it's flooding. The well is flooding." John said, loudly over the sound of the water pouring down.

"It's flooding. And I can't reach my sonic." Jared said, loudly over the sound of the water pouring down. "It's somewhere in my bag."

The image on the screen is being sent to it from a projector behind Sherlock, set up on a stand amidst all the fallen stonework.

"Try as long as possible not to drown." Sherlock said, gesturing towards the screen even though he knows that John and Jared probably can't see him.

"What?" John asked, putting his finger to his earpiece, finding it hard to hear over the sound of the water and Eurus' singing.

"I'm going to find you and Jared. I am finding both of you!" Sherlock said, still gesturing pointlessly.

"Well, hurry up, please, because I don't have long!" John said, loudly.

"And I have all eternity! But I'll keep dying and coming back constantly!" Jared said, angrily.

The girl on the plane screams again as it begins to bank hard to the right, "It's leaning over, the whole plane!"

Sherlock glances behind him to the door, then turns towards the screen again and claps his hand over his mouth, desperately trying to work out who to try and save first. In the well, John turns and tries to get handholds on the rocks lining it in an attempt to hold himself above the rising water. He lifts his left leg as high as it will go to try to climb up the wall a little but the chain tugs at his foot – or his fingers slide off the slippery stones – and he falls backwards and into the water with a loud cry.

In the plane, the girl stares in terror out of the windscreen.

Sherlock turns and runs out into the hall as his sister continues to sing.

"Eurus, you said the answer's in the song ..." Sherlock said, turning to the screen in the hall and Eurus stops singing. "... but I went through the song line by line all those years ago ..." He thought about his younger self as a pirate, searching in the meadow. "... and I found nothing. I couldn't find anything. And there-there was a beech tree in the grounds and I dug." Sherlock then thought about his younger self in the meadow, carrying a spade. "I dug and dug and dug and dug. Sixteen feet by six; sixteen yards; sixteen metres – and I found nothing. No-one."

"Sherlock?" John asked, over Sherlock's earpiece.

"It was a clever little puzzle, wasn't it? So why couldn't you work it out, Sherlock?" Eurus asked, on the screen.

Sherlock raises both hands to cover his mouth.

"Sherlock? There's something you need to know." John said, over Sherlock's earpiece.

Sherlock lowers his hands, breathing heavily.

"Emotional context. And he-e-e-e-re it comes." Eurus said.

"Sherlock?" John asked, and he and Jared are standing up in the water staring in anguish at something. "The bones we found."

"Yes? They're dogs' bones. That's Redbeard." Sherlock said, turning and walking back into the nearby room to look at the other screen.

"Yes. It's Redbeard. But Mycroft has been lying to both you and John." Jared said, while Sherlock frowns in confusion. "They're not dog bones. They're human bones."

"Remember Daddy's allergy? What was he allergic to?" Eurus asked, as Sherlock stares towards the screen, which is now showing her rather than John and Jared. "What would he never let you have all those times you begged? Well, he'd never let you have a dog."

Sherlock's mind...

A dog barks. He screws his eyes shut and sees his younger self running through the shallows on the beach.

"Come on, Redbeard!" Young Sherlock said, his voice nearby.

Nearby, young Eurus runs around, smiling. In one hand, she has a plastic toy aeroplane and she holds it up and 'flies' it through the air as she goes.

"What a funny little memory, Sherlock." Adult Eurus said, nearby.

Little Eurus runs away, revealing the Irish setter sitting on the pebbles with a purple bandana tied around its neck. Some distance away, young Sherlock, wearing his yellow jumper, raises his plastic sword and swoops it downwards, smiling towards his dog.

"You were upset ..." Adult Eurus said, nearby.

Young Eurus runs around behind the dog.

"... so you told yourself a better story." Adult Eurus said, nearby.

Still clutching her toy, young Eurus continues trotting around in a circle.

"... but we never had a dog." Adult Eurus said, nearby.

Eurus runs across in front of Redbeard, briefly obscuring him. As she trots away, the Irish setter has gone. In its place a young boy is kneeling on the beach. The same age as young Sherlock, he has red hair and he is wearing a thick checked shirt and has the purple bandana tied around his neck. He is wearing a black plastic eyepatch over one eye. He stands up, wielding his own plastic sword. Young Sherlock turns to look at him. As young Mycroft continues trying to skim pebbles on the stepping stones some distance away, the red-headed boy runs towards Sherlock, who turns and trots away across the beach with the other boy following him. Little Eurus turns to watch them, and the red-headed boy stops and turns back to her. They look at each other for a long moment. There is no friendliness in their expressions.

Well...

"Jared, you're right." John said, lifting what he's holding in both hands. It's a small human skull. "They're human bones."

House...

Sherlock stares downwards towards the floor in front of him.

"Victor." Sherlock said, in a whisper.

"Now it's coming." Eurus said, softly, on the screen.

"Victor Trevor." Sherlock said, softly, his voice shaking.

Sherlock frowns a little as the memories keep coming. On the beach, the two boys trot away together. Young Eurus turns her head away, a sad look on her face.

"We played pirates. I was Yellowbeard and he was ..." Sherlock said.

Eurus looks into the screen, her mouth slightly open and an expectant look on her face.

Sherlock raises his tear-filled eyes to Eurus, "... he was Redbeard."

"You were inseparable. But I wanted to play too." Eurus said.

Sherlock looks away as he begins to realise what started his sister's behaviour. Eventually, he sighs and lowers his head, closing his eyes.

"Oh. Oh God." Sherlock said, crying softly. "What ..." He pulls in several breaths before he can continue. "... what did you do?"

"I that am lost / Oh, who will find me / Deep down below / The old beech tree?" Eurus asked, singing softly, and more slowly than usual.

During the last line of her song, young Victor is sopping wet and almost up to his waist in water, standing at the bottom of the well.

Well..

Victor's toy sword is floating beside him. He stares upwards and calls out desperately.

"Please let me out! Please, someone help me! Please." Victor said, lost and abandoned at the bottom of the well.

House...

Adult Sherlock gazes downwards, lost in grief.

Young Sherlock walks across the meadow, disconsolate at the loss of his friend.

Adult Sherlock hears his younger self.

"Come on, Redbeard!" Young Sherlock said, calling out worriedly.

Lights seem to flicker across adult Sherlock's face.

Young Sherlock continues searching in the meadow, his face anguished.

Adult Sherlock stands in the hall, surrounded by darkness and lost in memories.

Young Sherlock now seems to be in the same position, surrounded by darkness, his face sad.

Adult Sherlock gazes tearfully across the hall.

Young Sherlock, tears pouring down his face, softly speaks the name of his best friend, but it's his adult voice.

"Victor." Sherlock said, his voice in a whisper.

Sherlock thought about the long view of the gently rippling water in the swimming pool where Sherlock and Jim had their stand-off at the end of the 'The Great Game'.

"Deep waters, Sherlock, all your life." Eurus said, softly, nearby.

Sherlock's distraught face is briefly overlaid with dark blue rippling water.

"In all your dreams." Eurus said, softly, nearby.

Victorian Holmes is lying on the rocky ledge near Victorian Jared while the Reichenbach Falls thunder downwards behind them.

"Deep waters." Eurus said, softly, nearby.

Hall...

Sherlock stares ahead of himself, his face covered with tears.

"You killed him." Sherlock said, devastated.

Dark rippling water overlays his face and for a moment a merged image of adult and young Sherlock stares sadly across the hall with tears on his face.

Adult Sherlock lifts his head, looking towards the screen, "You killed my best friend."

"I never had a best friend. I had no-one." Eurus said, quietly but with a hint of anger in her voice..

Sherlock raises his head towards the ceiling.

Well...

John and Jared struggle to keep their footing, the water now up to the top of their chests as more pours down.

Musgrave Hall..

Sherlock gazes upwards, his face anguished. He closes his eyes.

Little Eurus is running around on the beach, flying her toy aeroplane beside her. Adult Sherlock stands nearby watching her. Smiling, she runs around him with her plane. She looks up at him.

"Play with me, Sherlock! Play with me!" Young Eurus said, nearby.

Young Eurus continues to run around Sherlock

"No-one." Adult Eurus said, on the screen, bitterly.

Hall...

Adult Sherlock lowers his head, his eyes still closed.

Graveyard...

Young Sherlock runs across the graveyard towards the house. The gravestone of Nemo Holmes and its impossible dates.

"No-one." Eurus said, nearby, in a whisper.

She thought about the gravestone and writing overlays the top line.

NEMO

n.

Latin - no one, nobody

Hall...

Sherlock bites his lip and raises his head, looking towards the screen with determination.

"Okay. Okay, let's play." Sherlock said, more strongly.

Sherlock turns and picks up the lantern from the floor and runs outside, hurrying around the side of the house, through an open gate and into the graveyard at the back of the house. As he runs around, bending down and shining his light closely onto various gravestones, the little girl's voice comes over his earpiece.

"Hello? Are you there?" The little girl asked, over Sherlock's earpiece.

"Need your help. I'm trying to solve a puzzle." Sherlock said.

"But what about the plane?"

"Well, the puzzle will save the plane." Sherlock said, running to another gravestone and looks at the inscription. The bottom two lines read '1818 / Aged 24 and 26 Years'. "The wrong dates. She used the wrong dates on the gravestones as the key to the cipher ..." He runs to shine the lantern on Nemo Holmes' gravestone. "... and the cipher was the song."

"Is this strictly relevant?" John asked, shouting above the noise of the rising water.

"Yeah. It is. Sherlock will be back with us soon. He's working on the final case." Jared said, shouting above the noise of the rising water. "I promise he is."

Sherlock puts the lantern on the ground and focuses in on another, very old and worn, gravestone which gives dates of '134 - 1719'. The numbers '134' and '1719' appear in the air in front of his eyes. He looks across to other gravestones, mentally pulling the numbers from each of them, including those from Nemo Holmes' grave, and putting them beside the first set until he has a long string of numbers in front of him. Rubbing his hands over his nose and mouth, he lowers them and breathes in sharply.

"The lights are getting closer." The girl said, from the plane's flight deck.

"Hush, now. Working." Sherlock said, gesturing dismissively to one side.

The words of Eurus' song appear in front of his eyes. Two verses side by side read

I that am lost, oh who will find me?

Deep down below the old beech tree

Help succour me now the east winds blow

Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go!

Without your love, he'll be gone before

Save pity for strangers, show love the door.

My soul seek the shade of my willow's bloom

Inside, brother mine -

Let Death make a room.

Two further verses are underneath but in much smaller print. According to this person on Tumblr, who may have a better quality recording than me, they read

Be not afraid to walk in the shade

Save one, save all, come try!

My steps - five by seven

Life is closer to Heaven

Look down, with dark gaze, from on high.

Before he was gone - right back over my hill

Who now will find him?

Why, nobody will

Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen

Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

"Let's number the words of the song." Sherlock said, smiling.

The row of numbers whooshes away and individual numbers appear above each word in the four verses. Sherlock screws his eyes shut. The words and their accompanying numbers start to roll round in his mind.

"Then rearrange the numbered words to match the sequence on the gravestones." Sherlock said, and the words and numbers spin around in front of him, some of them stopping briefly in front of his eyes before spinning on.

The sequences which stop read

1 3 4

I am lost

17 19

Help me

28

brother

Sherlock's head snaps up and he opens his eyes with a gasp. He looks at the verses and the numbered words in front of him and the majority of the letters and their accompanying numbers shatter and the fragments fall away to the ground. He breathes heavily, looking at the remaining words floating in the air, then reaches out and starts swiping each word out of the air in the correct order, saying each word as he removes it.

"I ... am ... lost ... Help ... me ... brother ... Save ... My ... Life ... Before ... my ... Doom." Sherlock said, continuing swiping the words away. "I ... am ... Lost ... Without ... your ... love ... Save ... My ... soul ... seek ... my ... room."

Sherlock stops dead on the last word, staring up as the last three phrases float in front of him, the most prominent being the final three words, 'Seek my room'. He looks past them towards the house.

"Oh God." Sherlock said, in a whisper, wide-eyed.

Grabbing the lantern, Sherlock races back towards the house.

Well...

John and Jared stare upwards as the water continues to rise.

Plane...

The girl cries out panic-stricken, "We're going to crash! I'm going to die!"

The girl screams.

Well...

John grunts with effort, his arms under the water and apparently tugging at the chains around his feet. Jared looked down at the water, guilty, not knowing what to do now to save himself and John.

Musgrave Hall / Plane...

Sherlock races through the gateway beside the house, runs round the side to the front and then bursts through the front door, then runs up the stairs, "I think it's time you told me your real name."

"I'm not allowed to tell my name to strangers." The girl said, on the plane.

Sherlock reaches a closed door on the landing and stops in front of it.

"But I'm not a stranger, am I?" Sherlock asked, quietly.

Sherlock opens the door and, from the other side, we see him open the door to the flight deck of the plane and step inside. He stares intensely at what he sees.

"I'm your brother." Sherlock said, happily.

The girl turns around in the co-pilot's seat and looks at Sherlock. But Sherlock isn't on the flight deck and there is no little girl. He's in a burnt-out bedroom in his family home and he lowers the lantern to the floor and holds out his other hand towards the figure in front of him.

"I'm here, Eurus." Sherlock said, reassuringly.

Still wearing the clothes she wore in Sherrinford, Eurus is sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up in front of her and her hands wrapped around them. Her eyes are closed.

The girl on the plane goes into fast reverse until she's back in her seat, looking uneasily out of the window. The footage rapidly reverses even further and slows down to the very first moment where, in reverse, that has her eye closing.

Young Eurus running around the beach with her toy aeroplane.

Eurus' bedroom...

Adult Eurus keeps her eyes closed and speaks with a child-like voice, "You're playing with me, Sherlock. We're playing the game."

"The game, yes. I get it now." Sherlock said, stepping closer to Eurus. "The song was never a set of directions."

"I'm in the plane, and I'm going to crash." Eurus said, her eyes still closed and her voice child-like and frightened.

Sherlock crouches down in front of Eurus.

"And you're going to save me." Eurus said, speaking with a child-like voice.

"Look how brilliant you are. Your mind has created the perfect metaphor. You're high above us, all alone in the sky, and you understand everything except how to land." Sherlock said, shifting round and sits down in front of her, breathless and anxious. "Now, I'm just an idiot, but I'm on the ground." He reaches out and puts his fingers onto her hands. "I can bring you home."

"No." Eurus said, her eyes still closed, plaintively, and her voice reverts to its adult tone. "No, no." She shivers. "It's too late now."

"No it's not. It's not too late." Sherlock said, shifting closer to Eurus and lowering his hand.

Eurus cries, her eyes screwed tight and her face twisted with fear, "Every time I close my eyes, I'm on the plane. I'm lost, lost in the sky and ... no-one can hear me."

Eurus pulls her knees closer to herself, crying silently. Sherlock reaches out and gently puts his hand onto hers again.

"Open your eyes. I'm here." Sherlock said, in a whisper.

Eurus opens her eyes and slowly raises her head.

"You're not lost any more." Sherlock said, in a whisper, shifting even closer and reaching out to embrace Eurus.

Eurus shuffles forward and wraps her arms around him and they hug each other tightly while she cries.

"Now, you ..." Sherlock said, softly, stroking Eurus' hair. "...you just ... you just went the wrong way last time, that's all." His voice becomes tearful. "This time, get it right." Still softly, but more clearly. "Tell me how to save my friends."

Well...

John and Jared groan with the effort of trying to keep their heads above the water.

Bedroom...

Sherlock pulls back a little.

"Eurus ..." Sherlock said, cradling his sister's head with one hand and gazes pleadingly into her eyes. "Help me save John Watson and Jared Shay."

Eurus stares at Sherlock, trembling and tearful as he gently strokes her hair.

Well...

John grimaces and then groans, tilting his chin up out of the water as he strains with the effort of trying to pull the chains free and Jared dives down into the water to try and pull the chains free. Then a light shines down onto John and Jared from the top of the well and a rope is thrown down to them. Gasping with relief, John and Jared take hold of it.

(Jared's POV)

Musgrave Hall...

Eurus is being led away from the house by two police officers. She still looks tearful. Police cars and vans are parked all around and a helicopter's rotors can be heard nearby. Some distance away, Sherlock watches her. John is beside him, wrapped in a grey blanket. I am beside Sherlock and John, wrapped in a blue blanket.

Greg walks over to us, "I just spoke to your brother."

"How is he?" Sherlock asked, as he, John, and I turn to Lestrade.

"He's a bit shaken up, that's all. She didn't hurt him; she just locked him in her old cell." Lestrade said, sadly.

"What goes around comes around." John said, happily.

"Yup. All's well that ends well." I said, smiling.

"Yeah. Give me a moment, boys." Lestrade said, starting to walk past us but turns back when Sherlock speaks quietly.

"Oh, um. Mycroft – make sure he's looked after. He's not as strong as he thinks he is." Sherlock said, looking at Lestrade.

"He really isn't." I said, with the blue blanket around my body. "Take good care of him, Greg."

"Yeah, I'll take care of it." Lestrade said, nodding and turns to walk away again.

"Thanks, Greg." Sherlock said.

John, who has been huddling into his blanket, lifts his head and Greg turns back again and looks at him in surprise before walking away.

Eurus has been loaded into a reinforced cell inside one of the police vans. She sits on a side bench as a police officer closes the door.

"The helicopter ready?" Lestrade asked, looking at a nearby male police officer.

"Mm-hm." The police officer said.

"Let's move her, then."

The officer nods in the direction of Sherlock, "Is that him, sir? Sherlock Holmes?"

Greg looks back to where Sherlock has turned to face John and I, who looks round at him, "Fan, are you?"

"Well, he's a great man, sir." The police officer said.

"No, he's better than that." Lestrade said, looking towards Sherlock for a moment. "He's a good one."

The two officers look towards our boys for a little longer, then turn and walk away.

"You okay?" John asked, quietly to Sherlock.

"I said I'd bring her home. I can't, can I?" Sherlock asked, quietly, thoughtfully.

"Well, you gave her what she was looking for: context." John said.

"And the context you gave was what she wanted." I said, sadly. "Even if the ending wasn't the best."

"Is that good?" Sherlock asked, looking round at John and I.

"It's not good, it's not bad. It's ..." John said, looking away and screws up his face, searching for the right words, then turns back to one of his friends. "It is what it is."

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"Alive?! For all these years?" Mrs Holmes asked, while she and her husband were in the room.

Mycroft sits behind his desk and his father is sitting on a chair on the other side while Mrs Holmes stands at the other end of the desk staring in shock at her oldest son. Her younger son is standing at the far end of the room leaning against the closed office door with his arms folded and his head lowered. I am sitting there, eating some jelly babies and drinking a cup of tea.

"Yup. She is. Mikey had her locked up for years." I said, tossing a jelly baby into my mouth. "You guys are as smart as the Coopers."

"From the Big Bang Theory." Mrs Holmes said, as she looked at Mycroft. "How is that even possible?!"

"What Uncle Rudy began ..." Mycroft said, hesitating slightly, his eyes lowered. "... I thought it best to continue."

"I'm not asking how you did it, idiot boy, I'm asking how could you?" Mrs Holmes asked, angrily.

"I was trying to be kind." Mycroft said, raising his eyes to his mother's at the end of his sentence.

"Kind?!" Mrs Holmes exclaimed, gasping in a pained breath. "Kind?" She becomes tearful as she continues. "You told us that our daughter was dead."

"Better that than tell you what she had become." Mycroft said, while his mother stared at him wide-eyed. "I'm sorry."

Mycroft's father stands up and leans his hands on the table.

"Whatever she became, whatever she is now, Mycroft ..." Mr Holmes said, as I thought about a helicopter flying towards Sherrinford Island. "... she remains our daughter."

"And my sister." Mycroft said.

"Then you should have done better." Mrs Holmes said.

"He did his best." Sherlock said, quietly.

"He really did. He introduced her to Jim Moriarty and gave her a violin." I said, letting out a sigh. "But that wasn't enough to make her better."

"Then he's very limited. Even if he gave her all that." Mrs Holmes said.

Mycroft looks towards his brother and me, unable to meet his parents' eyes.

"Where is she?" Mr Holmes asked.

I thought about the helicopter coming in to land on the beach of the island.

"Back in Sherrinford; secure, this time." Mycroft said, looking at his father. "People have died."

Sherrinford Island...

"Sherlock, this will prepare me for Missy in the Vault." I said, looking over at Sherlock. "I'm terrified of her. But I know she'll get better. Someday."

"I know." Sherlock said, getting out of the helicopter with me, carrying a holdall. "That's why my sister is good practice for you until that day, Jared."

We walk away across the beach.

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"Without doubt she will kill again if she has the opportunity. There's no possibility she'll ever be able to leave." Mycroft said.

Mr Holmes has straightened up a little but now leans down again and speaks firmly, "When can we see her?"

Mycroft looks at his father.

Sherrinford...

"How long will you spend time with me and John?" Sherlock asked, holding my hand.

Sherlock comes out of the lift on the upper level of the Control Room with me and we trot down the stairs.

"As long as I want to." I said, squeezing Sherlock's hand. "I can spend ages with you two."

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"There's no point." Mycroft said.

"How dare you say that?" Mrs Holmes asked, upset.

"She won't talk. She won't communicate with anyone in any way." Mycroft said, closing his eyes and speaking more firmly.

Sherrinford...

"Are you sure you can handle my sister?" Sherlock asked, swiping a card through a card reader and the door in front of him opened.

"Yeah." I said, walking through the door with Sherlock. "I can. I know I can."

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"She has passed beyond our view." Mycroft said.

Still leaning against Mycroft's office door, Sherlock and I gazed down at the floor in front of us.

"There are no words that can reach her now." Mycroft said, looking at his mother.

Mrs Holmes turns to look at her other son and me.

Sherrinford...

"If you say you're ready." Sherlock said, looking at me. "Then you are."

Sherlock and I walk out of another lift.

"Yup." I said, squeezing Sherlock's hand.

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"Sherlock." Mrs Holmes said.

Sherlock raises his head.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock walks along the long corridor with me towards the Secure Unit.

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

Mrs Holmes shrugs questioningly at Sherlock, "Well?"

Sherrinford...

Sherlock and I stop at the end of the corridor and the lights on the scanner above our heads begin to oscillate back and forth.

Mycroft's Diogenes office....

"You were always the grown-up. And you have Jared to give you hints as to what you should do." Mrs Holmes said, and Mycroft raises his head a little and looks towards his brother and I. "What do we do now?"

Sherlock turns his head away slightly, looking thoughtful.

(Open POV)

Sherrinford...

The lift door at the front of Eurus' cell slides open and Sherlock, having presumably left his coat upstairs, walks out with Jared. He walks a few paces forward, looking at his sister inside the glass-walled cell. Her face is turned away from them and she doesn't react to the sound of their footsteps. Sherlock bends down and puts the holdall on the floor. Behind Sherlock and Jared, the lift door closes and the green lights in the room turn white. Sitting on the seat at the side of the room, she still doesn't react. Sherlock unzips the bag and then stands up holding his violin and bow. He plucks at the strings and Eurus blinks. Once he's sure the violin is tuned properly, he lifts his bow and plays a simple tune. He stops at the end of the first phrase and lifts his bow a little, looking towards Eurus. She doesn't respond or move in any way.

Burnt-out living room of 221B Baker Street...

Sherlock – in shirt and trousers – walks across the floor, stepping over the ruined books and debris.

Eurus' cell...

Jared closed his eyes to listen to Sherlock play the same tune while the consulting detective continues it.

221B...

Sherlock picks up a random item from the floor, then walks across to where the skull which is usually on the wall between the windows is lying on the burnt rug. John turns around from where he's standing near the fireplace and holds up what he's just found – the earphones which usually adorn the skull's head. Sherlock lifts the skull so that John can put the earphones back onto it and then loop the cable over the top. Sherlock turns away with it and looks for somewhere to put it.

Eurus' cell...

Sherlock continues playing. After a while, Eurus stands up and turns to face him. Sherlock stops playing, and the two of them look at each other for a long while. Jared opened his eyes as he looked between Sherlock and Eurus.

221B...

Sherlock, still holding the skull and headphones, lifts his overturned chair with the other hand and sets it upright, before gazing upwards.

Sherrinford...

A helicopter heads towards Sherrinford Island again.

Eurus' cell...

Sherlock plays on. Eurus stands silently, watching him with a trace of interest on her face. Jared is smiling, enjoying Sherlock play the song he knows so well.

221B...

Sherlock picks up one of the dining chairs and sets it on its feet. John is over near the right-hand window.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock gets out of the helicopter again on the beach at Sherrinford with his holdall in one hand. He is making repeated visits with Jared to play to his sister.

Eurus' cell...

While Sherlock continues to play, Eurus picks up her own violin and bow and walks towards the glass wall. Sherlock stops in mid-phrase. She puts the violin to her chin. Sherlock watches her, and she begins to play the same piece from the beginning. The sound from her violin is richer – either she's a better player or she has her Strad back. Or possibly it's a bit of both, because she plays the first phrase with more flair than her brother, running the notes together differently at one point. Sherlock blinks rapidly as she ends the phrase and stops, lowering her bow. He lifts his own bow and plays the phrase again, still using his own interpretation of the notes.

"I'm starting to see why Sayaka loved hearing Kyosuke play the violin." Jared said, bopping his head side to side. "This song is good."

John's home...

John is standing in his own living room sorting through his mail. He stops when he gets to a white padded envelope sent by Special Delivery.

Shortly afterwards, John walks aimlessly around the room while he speaks into his phone.

"Uh, yeah, I-I think you and Jared better get round here." John said, and in his other hand he is holding what he found in the envelope.

Inside a clear plastic wallet is a white DVD. Handwritten on the disc are the words 'MISS YOU'.

Eurus' cell...

Eurus closes her eyes and begins to play the tune again but this time Sherlock joins in with a counterpart. They stand either side of the glass, harmonising with each other.

John's home...

The disc slides into the DVD player. Sherlock has now arrived and stands near the sofa, still wearing his coat, while John sits down and Jared. They look at each other for a moment, then Sherlock turns away to look towards the TV while John lifts the remote control and starts the playback.

"Mary..." Jared said, when Mary's face smiles at him, Sherlock, and John from the screen. "Oh Mary..."

Sherlock blinks and John stares at the TV in surprise, his mouth falling open a little.

"P.S." Mary said, on screen.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock again walks along the corridor towards the Special Unit with Jared thinking about the music from the violin duet.

John's home...

"I know you three; and if I'm gone, I know what you could become." Mary said, on the screen.

Sherlock turns to look down at John and Jared. John smiles briefly at the screen, his eyes full of tears, with Jared placing his hand on top of John's, and Sherlock turns back to the TV as Mary continues.

"... because I know who you really are." Mary said, on the screen.

Jared thought about Sherlock all those years ago, his face upside down on the screen as he unzips a body bag and looks inside.

"A junkie who solves crimes to get high ..." Mary said, on the screen.

Jared then thought about Sherlock looking down at the body and wrinkles his nose a little as he sniffs.

He then thought about his very first sight of John, jolting up in bed in his lonely bedsit after his latest nightmare.

"... the doctor who never came home from the war..." Mary said, on the screen.

Jared then thought about him in the TARDIS spending time with the Doctor and Clara or in Remnant with Team RWBY.

"...and the fanboy that loves to travel just to have adventures." Mary said, on the screen.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock walks to the door of the Secure Unit with Jared and swipes his card through the reader.

Eurus' cell...

The siblings' duet becomes more complicated and intricate. Jared is sipping on some bubble tea to hear Sherlock and Eurus play the tune.

John's home...

"Well, you listen to me: who you really are, it doesn't matter." Mary said, on the TV screen.

Dark burnt ruin of 221B...

A workman is sweeping up while another one stuffs rubbish into a black plastic bag. Standing in front of the fireplace, John looks around the room and tiredly rubs the back of his neck as if despairing of ever getting the place back to normal. Oblivious to what's going on around him, Sherlock is sitting in his chair texting and Jared is playing on his Nintendo Switch.

John's home...

"It's all about the legend, the stories, the adventures." Mary said, on the TV screen.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock comes out of the lift with Jared and walks across the green-lit room towards where his sister is sitting on the seat with her back to the room.

The Holmes siblings face each other through the glass, playing together beautifully. Jared is snacking on some chocolate chip cookies while hearing them play.

221B...

Mrs Hudson comes through the door and looks across the room. While the workmen tidy up. John stands at the fireplace, Jared is snacking on some chocolate Pocky, and Sherlock types onto his phone 'You know where to find me'. and adds underneath 'SH'.

John's home...

"There is a last refuge for the desperate, the unloved, the persecuted." Mary said, on the TV screen.

Sherrinford...

Sherlock walks along the corridor towards the Secure Unit with Jared.

Eurus' cell...

Eurus and Sherlock play on with Jared sipping on some green tea.

John's home...

"There is a final court of appeal for everyone." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

Most of the burnt debris has been removed and workmen are now redecorating. Sherlock, John, and Jared have decided to restore the flat exactly as it was, and the wallpaper on the fireplace wall is the same as it was before. Sherlock, wearing his camel dressing gown, is standing facing the fireplace. At the sofa wall, Jared sprays a circle of yellow paint onto the wallpaper and then adds two dots inside near the top of the circle. He turns round and we see that the wallpaper on that wall is also the same as it was before and John comes over and has added the smiley face to it. John and Jared look across expectantly towards Sherlock and then walk out of the way. Sherlock, now facing into the room, raises his long-muzzled pistol, spins the chamber and then flicks it into place, then aims towards the spray-painted face and fires twice. He smiles, then lifts the muzzle and blows across the top.

Eurus' cell...

The siblings' tune resolves into the familiar 'Pursuit' music, with Jared thinking of an ensemble of stringed instruments.

221B...

Sherlock, now wearing his blue dressing gown, stabs his knife down into an open letter on the mantelpiece as John stands beside him holding the piece of paper in position. Jared is drinking some Coke out of a plastic bottle. Sherlock, John, and Jared turn as Mrs Hudson comes into the room and looks at them in exasperation. The room is now fully restored to its former glory and all the familiar items have either been repaired or replaced with identical copies.

Eurus' cell...

Sherlock and Eurus play on. Without stopping, he raises his eyes to hers and she looks back at him. For the first time, there is emotion in her eyes as she gazes at her brother. She smiles just a little and they continue their duet. Jared is bopping his head back and forth and loving the sound of the violin as time flies while eating some fish fingers and custard.

221B...

A montage of scenes rolls out. Even though there is no segue between them, they clearly take place over a period of time. Sherlock, in his camel dressing gown, walks around behind the client chair. Sitting in the chair is an old-fashioned ventriloquist's dummy dressed in a black and red jacket with a white shirt and black bowtie. Its operator seems to be crouched behind the chair, as evidenced by a black-sleeved arm poking round from the back of the chair and disappearing into the dummy's back. John walks through the living room door with Jared, wearing his jacket and carrying his briefcase. The army doctor and the fanboy frown briefly at the scene as they go across the room. Sitting down in his chair, John sits down in his chair and Jared sits down on the couch, with the two looking up at a blackboard set up on an easel in front of the fireplace and frowns at the 'dancing men' figures chalked on it.

John's home...

"When life gets too strange, too impossible ..." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

On the other side of the blackboard, sitting in his chair wearing his suit jacket, Sherlock frowns across the room and gets up to walk over and stand at the feet of a man lying on his back in the middle of the floor in front of the door. The man is dressed in Viking costume. His eyes are closed. John, wearing a brown cardigan, is on his knees beside the man, patting his face with one hand and peeling one eyelid open with his other thumb. Jared is playing on his Nintendo Switch, loving every single second of it.

John's home...

"... too frightening, there is always one last hope." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

Mrs Hudson comes to the living room door holding a can of air freshener. Pulling a face, she sprays the can into the air, then turns to spray the couch that Jared is sitting on, and finally turns to spray another blast towards John's chair.

John's home...

"When all else fails ..." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

Sitting in his chair and looking down in disgust at something grubby and possibly vomit-soaked in his hands, John – still in his brown cardigan – raises his head as Sherlock picks up Rosie and straightens up. She now has a full head of hair and is dressed in a pink top with denim short-legged dungarees over the top. Her mouth is grubby, so presumably she has just thrown up into whatever John is holding.

John's home...

"... there are three men sitting, arguing in a scruffy flat ..." Mary said, as a voiceover.

221B...

Tucking his goddaughter closely into his body with one hand while she makes a valiant attempt to stick her finger up her nose, Sherlock smiles and points across the room with the other, "Oh, there's Daddy!"

Eurus' cell...

The music resolves into a fuller, slower and even more orchestral version of 'Pursuit'.

221B...

Sherlock waves across the room and then walks forward to hand Rosie down to John, who is kneeling on the floor and wearing a pale grey shirt. John smiles in delight as he takes hold of his daughter and kisses her cheek.

"John. Thought Rosie might like these." Jared said, walking up to John, carrying a bunch of baby toes to give to Rosie. "Got them off of Amazon."

John's home...

"... like they've always been there ..." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

Greg stands looking towards Sherlock with one hand raised to his head and a harassed look on his face. He gestures beckoningly towards him as he turns to the door.

John's home...

"... and they always will." Mary said, on the TV screen.

221B...

In the doorway as Greg leaves, Molly comes in smiling happily and walks across the room.

"Oh. Hi, Molly." Jared said, smiling. "What's up?"

John's home...

"The best and wisest men I have ever known." Mary said, on the TV screen.

Eurus' cell...

Sherlock smiles at his sister as he continues to duet with her. Their parents, big brother, and Jared are sitting on chairs to one side of Sherlock. With her eyes lowered while she listens to her children play, their mother reaches across to take Mycroft's hand. He looks down at their hands and then turns to look at her.

John's home....

"My Baker Street boys." Mary said, smiling from the TV screen. "Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, and Jared Shay."

London...

And in slow motion Sherlock, John, and Jared – Mary's Baker Street boys – run side-by-side out of the entrance of a large stone building, identified by plaques either side of the porch as 'Rathbone Place', and race off towards their next adventure.