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I crawl back to consciousness to find Sherlock hovering over me with a concerned expression on his face. The ground beneath me is hard and cold, and I find myself shivering as it begins to soak into me. As my surroundings begin to become clearer I realise I am still in the warehouse where the shadows attacked me. Some time has passed though because the sun beyond the windows has now been replaced by darkness. I let out a groan and clutch at my head, which is pounding unpleasantly.
"Please tell me the shadows are gone." I whisper, still half afraid they might still be hanging around somewhere out of sight. I get the feeling I might just have had a very lucky escape.
Sherlock looks confused for a moment. "Shadows?" Then his expression softens and a smile appears on his face. "Oh, you mean the Hugin. Don't worry we won't be seeing them again in a hurry." He says, his eyes darkening briefly to become a burning orange that sends a shiver up my spine.
"Hugin? I've never heard of that type of shape-shifter before." I say, trying to sit up. Sherlock helps me by wrapping his arm around my waist.
"Easy Greg. You're going to feel awful for a couple of days while your mind recovers." Sherlock says before letting out a sigh. "In answer to your question, Hugin are not shape-shifters. They are creatures of energy that paralyse their victims so they can feed off their memories- starting with the good ones. They are exceptionally nasty and you are bloody lucky that I found you in time." He pauses and runs a hand through his messy, black curls, "What the hell were you thinking coming out here alone?!"
His eyes flash with geniune anger and I find myself shrinking a little. "I wanted to prove a human could stand a chance against the shape-shifter." I say in a small voice, "I realise now I probably should have told you what I was doing."
"Probably? By fire and flame, Greg! If I hadn't been following you those things would have killed you and left you as nothing but a husk." Sherlock cries. Then all the fight drains out of him and he drops his head into his hands. "I thought I had lost you."
I swallow hard. I have never seen Sherlock so emotional and I have to admit it's more than a little bit unsettling. "I never realised you cared so much." I say, trying (and failing) to make a joke of it.
Sherlock looks at me with a fierce expression in his orange eyes. "Of course I care! Apart from Mycroft and John you're one of the few friends I have." He says in a shaky voice as he reaches out and grips my hands tightly. "Promise me you will never deliberatly endanger your life again. I had to use quite a bit of my energy to bring you back from the brink." He says, watching me intently as he waits for my answer.
Wordlessly I nod, unsure if I will ever be able to find the words to thank him for what he has done. I never realised he cares for me as much as he does. It's just a shame it took me almost dying to learn about it. From now on I swear I won't willingly walk into danger without any backup again. Not least because poor Sherlock looks exhausted from the amount of energy he has obviously had to pour into me to keep me alive. I never want to be the cause of it ever again if I can help it. After everything that has happened Sherlock deserves some peace and quiet, and I intend to see that he gets it.