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Even in his dreams, Louis never felt disgusted when he looked at his face. Since the fire, several times Louis has seen an unpleasant look from the house he lives in, as well as the surrounding environment. It was rare but Louis could feel it.
The worse came in his dream. Each of these people's words was as sharp as a knife that cut into his mind. And what's more depressing than the sentence that you're just a 'foster child'?
Louis was not vindictive as a child. The heartache was there, and he endured it because there was no point in all of that to the goal they wanted to achieve.
This defense lasted for decades. Survive them being small, enter school and graduate, participate in social activities among nobles, take care of all administrative work, not forgetting their mission to 'clean up' London.
Twenty-six years he has seen the world, and even now his hands are still itching to scratch the 'wounds' that exist.
***
That day they will carry out a mission in the Queen's palace. Not a big mission, just an ordinary escort.
Why was it handed over to a secret organization? Because the one who will attack is a serial killer who has been a fugitive since ten years ago.
Why haven't they been caught? Louis also questioned the same thing.
Everything is ready in their respective places.
There will be Moneypenny and Bond who will entertain guests, Fred will serve as drinks waiter along with Jack, Herder will watch from behind while providing information through communication devices in their ears, and he will look after the Queen. There's also Patterson and Mycroft as their support squad.
Two hours passed and the event had begun with great fanfare. All eyes are focused on the pleasure the hosts provide. The conversation is always lively. The ladies will show off their diamonds and dresses, while the husband will talk about the success of their respective businesses. Young people also do not forget to brag about their wealth and position.
'That's all right,' the young man thought, not responding to the words of several people who approached him.
The party was still lively, they haven't found anything out of the ordinary. The escort from Scotland Yard has also been tightened.
Louis should feel safe. He should have been able to relax more and enjoy his time, like several previous missions similar to this one. But his hunch had tickled in an unpleasant sense.
"I'm going to the back first. Moneypenny, you keep an eye on the Queen, the others stay on standby," he muttered walking out of the crowd into the kitchen.
His heart said something was there, and he somehow couldn't ignore it.
The hallway he walked through was deserted, which was normal because everyone was in the hall. But does the kitchen, which is an important place in an event, have to be this quiet?
His hands were in his coat, holding the weapon he had prepared. The way is still as usual so as not to be suspicious. The kitchen door was in front of him, with a long sigh he slowly opened the door.
The setting of the place is not at all awkward. Long tables are arranged close together, pots and other cooking utensils are also on them. The serving plates are decorated with delicious dishes that are still steaming hot.
'They're still here,' as quickly as his hand pulled out the prepared knife, slinging it to the left at the slight sound there.
"Ouch..!"
"Get out you— eh?" The pomegranate beads widened at the familiar gray-green mane in his eyes.
"F-found out already? Ahaha— sorry."
It took Louis five minutes to process the events before him, for real.
***
Fortunately, the kitchen is spacious, and the equipment is also very complete, so there is a health box and a lot of contents. Louis continued to stare at the innocent face that the man in front of him was emitting. Now and then the man grimaced when the wound was gently pressed by Louis.
"Now tell me how you got here, Doctor Watson."
The chuckles didn't stop coming out of John's mouth. He scratched his head non-itchy and his eyes darted to the side, trying to avoid the glare from Louis.
"I'm lost— ouch ..! Please be more gentle, Mr. Moriarty," he whizzes bringing a curt face from Louis who had finished treating him.
"There's no way you'd get lost. Didn't you know there would be danger of a rapid strike tonight? Mister Mycroft didn't tell you? Then how did you come here?"
"W-wait a minute, I'll answer them one by one."
"Explain quickly. I don't have much time."
A long sigh started the sentence. "It's true that I was invited by Mr. Mycroft as a medical officer because he said there would be terrorists showing up. He wanted to be on guard in case anyone in the organization was injured. But so far there haven't been any attacks, right? Then I saw a suspicious servant, so I followed him when he entered the storage," he pointed to the door directly behind them. "And then you showed up, that's how it happened."
Even though he was sure his explanation was enough to convince Louis, he couldn't even look at the young man.
"Why do you always put me in a position where I can't blame and scold you?"
"I'm sorry— eh?"
His eyes widened, seeing a sad smile from Louis. His body looked a little weak after being tensed thinking there would be a sudden fight. Louis slowly stood up, intending to return the medicine box when his hand was pulled tightly by John who was hiding under the table.
"Doctor—"
"Shh, someone came from the storage," and Louis just remembered that the person he was looking for was probably here.
The pomegranate eyes became sharper and squinted from the corners of their eyes and found several people dressed in black entering through the door John had said earlier. 'They sneaked in from there? Is there an unknown secret passage? But even so, how did they fool all the kitchen workers?'
The questions in his mind did not have time to be answered because the terrorists in front of him had prepared to draw out their respective weapons. Louis bit his lip, he had to finish this now before they got to the banquet hall.
As his hand reached for another knife in his coat there was a soft clapping that woke him up. "I'll distract them. You can catch them when the focus is on me."
"Do you out of your mind..!? What if you get hurt?" Louis couldn't understand how this guy's brain worked. The recklessness was beyond the limits of sanity that he could tolerate, there were times when Louis also felt disturbed and worried excessively because of it.
But instead of a defense sentence, what Louis got was the man's signature smile, "don't be afraid, I can take care of myself," and a gun was pulled out of his jacket pocket as well.
Only this time Louis felt hot even though they were in the middle of cold autumn. "Whatever, but I can't protect you, doctor."
The two of them hid behind the table once more, popping their heads slightly to see how things were going. Thinking it was the right time, John immediately came out of hiding, "hey! Try to catch me if you can!"
It didn't take long for the chase scene to occur. Some of the terrorists chased John out of the kitchen, while the rest remained calm where they were. Their movements are getting faster in preparing the weapons to be used. Louis on the other hand was ready to attack them by sneaking behind.
'They are smart to divide groups. There are only five people, it's easy to finish and catch up with the doctor.'
With that Louis ran out, ambushed the two closest to him, kicked another person coming from the left, then twisted his body to hit the one coming from behind.
Their movements were extremely fast, all happening in a fraction of a second. 'Four people done,' his eyes scanned the surroundings, 'Where is the one—'
"You bastard."
BRAK!
Louis was pushed back, fortunately, his hands had time to block the kick so that his body was not thrown any further. His eyes narrowed sharply at his last enemy. The body that was bigger than him, and the calm demeanor were different from the four people just now.
'He must be the leader.'
"If only people like you didn't interfere, now the Queen's head is in our hands."
"Sorry if we bothered. Blame the task we received from the top," Louis didn't wait any longer to attack first. His foot kicked back at the person's right side which unfortunately was parried easily.
The terrorist who took a step back smiled broadly and took out his revolver and aimed it right at Louis' face.
"Bye bye you bastard."
BANG!
***
His breath started to run out. Running while carrying a lot of terrorists in tow, not to mention the fact that he has to be smart to take the path so as not to be caught by the party guests is another difficulty in his heroic action tonight.
'Six people. Quite a lot than I expected, but at least Mr. Moriarty must have beaten the rest of their group.'
Feeling he had entered the garden deep into it, John stopped and stood facing the six men who surrounded him head-on.
"Hahaha, where are you going?"
His trademark smile looks a little scary, "where am I going?"
"Why— ukhh..!"
"Hey, what's with the— akhhh!"
BRUK! BRUK!
"I want to finish the coward who takes other people's lives."
The fight went smoothly. Two people who had been surprised their friend had fallen immediately fired bullets, luckily they were far enough away that John could dodge them and responded with a shot on both legs. Another person chose to have a fistfight with John, who eventually lost after being hit twice hard in the face and stomach.
He was the only one with a long rifle trying to aim at John who was busy beating his comrades. He launched three shots, one of which managed to scratch John's left arm. Knowing that there was one most troublesome enemy, John threw the unconscious body in his hands and dashed straight for his final enemy. The man panicked, his hands couldn't add any more ammo, and it was John's good chance to beat him.
Sweat ran down his whole body. John was still watching, afraid that enemy reinforcements would come. Luckily after ten minutes had passed there was no sign of someone coming to his place.
His limp legs made his body fall and leaned against the big tree there. His smile did not disappear but grew wider, pleased to have accomplished his task so well.
"If it's like this, Mr. Moriarty will be pleased to hear that."
SRAK! SRAK!
His gaze returned to alert, his hands gripping the guns tighter. As the shadow slowly emerged from the bushes behind him, the firearm had already pointed at the face of the person who immediately raised his weapon as well.
They were silent for a second before opening their eyes in shock, "Mr. Moriarty! / Doctor!"
The two lowered their weapons, approaching each other to check with their eyes for any wounds.
"Thank God the doctor is okay. I was afraid you'd be okay because the one after you was a sniper."
John hasn't answered yet. He was silent as he watched the face in front of him.
"Doctor—"
"Follow me." Without saying much, John grabbed Louis' hand, leading him a little further into the rose garden.
Louis didn't speak anymore. He just silently followed the steps that seemed rushed. It wasn't until five minutes after they had walked quite a distance that John let go of his grip and asked Louis to sit on the metal bench beside him.
The two of them sat opposite each other and were silent. "Do-Doctor? What's the problem?"
"Problem?" The tone that came out was enough to make Louis widen his eyes slightly. "You said you wouldn't get hurt. Then what do I see now?"
It seemed, Louis more or less understood what was happening.
"Sorry, I was caught by the terrorist pointing his gun right at my face. Luckily I managed to dodge and immediately pinned him. But don't worry, only this small scratch will disappear soon—"
"Small? Are you sure you say it's small?"
Not in the real sense. The hand that had been clenched into a fist slowly touched his face, right on the wound that was still wet, then moved slightly to touch the old wound, a burn mark that would never go away.
Ironically, Louis got the wound in the same place.
The bigger hand cupped his cheek, "next time, please don't do anything to harm you. I'm really scared to think what happened to you," the head dropped, leaning on the smaller shoulder. "Never again put yourself in danger, promise me, Louis."
Guilt tickled his heart, "I can't promise, but I'll do my best so that the Doctor doesn't have to worry about me."
A long sigh accompanied the bead who looked at him probingly. Slowly John rubbed the scar again and kissed it. "You still look perfect. Don't think anything about this scar."
Look, Louis didn't say anything, and the doctor's instincts toward the man in front of him really shouldn't be underestimated.
A nod was Louis's answer. His head now rests on the broad shoulders on which he rests tonight.
The black sky without stars accompanied them along with the rose garden and it was sad. Both of them looked back at their memories, where there was sorrow and pain that scratched each other's hearts. Loss is hard to heal. Holding on to each other sometimes doesn't help as medicine.
The wound that was left open for a long time, Louis wondered when there would be a medicine that could cover it.
Tonight, it seemed, Louis had gotten a little dab of medicine that made him calmer and not wince in pain anymore. And Louis, deep in his heart, wished this drug would last forever by his side.