Cherry Sullivan, a case she had been working on for the past few weeks, she'd gone missing a while ago and any bit of information she got was from the riddles left behind

Riddles, a favourited past-time of hers...only one person in the whole of London would know something like that, Guest Moriarty her very own arch-nemisis, they were not enemies, no, more akin to the yin and yang, she was silent, smart, clinical in everything she did, Guest was dashing, a charmer and a handsome face, with no shortage in his own intellect

While at her home, she recieved word of a new riddle being found and soon found herself staring at the words:

"There is a path, dear Charlotte, one to your heart and to Cherry, follow it, for I will surely be waiting for you, I do not need to say more, but it is where we first began is fulfilling game of cat-and-mouse."

...Blunt...unlike Guest...either he had a plan, or was finally letting his own arrogance take over for once

Where they first began this game of cat-and-mouse? The cliffside, just outside London, she remembered it vividly, Guest had stood on the edge of it after Charlotte cracked the first of his many riddle-filled crimes, told her if she got too close he'd jump, been charming with it...too charming for someone about to kill himself, she thought, and like she had guessed, Guest jumped off anyway, disappeared...and just a few weeks later had prepared another exhausting and yet thrilling case for her to crack

---

By nightfall she was at the cliffside, searching for the final riddle and eventually, finding Cherry. However knowing Guest, she believed the riddle would be hidden nearest to the edge...but as she got closer, she thought of Guest's face and lost her footing, ended up falling

She yelped, unable to come to terms with the fact she might really die after tripping, yet, mid-fall, she felt someone dive in after her, wrap two sturdy arms around her and take a good portion of the fall for her

Nevertheless, she passed out

When she came to...who knows how long had passed? As she looked around, up at the stars, she couldn't tell if it had been a few hours or an entire day

She tried getting up, felt a pain shoot up her right arm, broken, saw that it had a fieldhospital-like cast around it...then finally looked around instead of above

She saw a fire, and a body...his body, sat next to it, a false gun sat in his lap, and a horse fed not too far next to him

She finally clocked the bounds around her wrists and ankles...he'd tied her up, but hadn't done anything aside from it

A little further away, she saw the unconscious body of Cherry Sullivan, breathing, looking mostly healthy (if not a little underfed by aristocratic standards)

She finally looked Guest in the eyes and found her voice

"...Guest...what are you scheming now?"

Her voice sounded weak, even to herself, let alone someone that could weapons everything she said, like Guest.

She had always refused to look herself in a mirror and question why her heart always skipped a beat when she got another case involving Guest...refused to name the feelings she felt when Guest planned something stupidly smart and romantic for his grand reveal after she cracked the riddles