Chapter Text
It all started one random sunny day, a day or two after the play on the Noatic had reached its end, as William was minding his own mathematical business (a.k.a. writing a thesis).
A strange, glowing blue tablet appeared out of absolutely nowhere in his head. At first, William truly thought it was just the sunlight affecting his eyes. Turned out… it wasn't.
There was no way his brain could possibly come up with this:
[SYSTEM 001 has joined the chat.]
[SYSTEM 002 has joined the chat.]
[SYSTEM 001 has added User 001.]
[SYSTEM 002 has added User 002.]
SYSTEM 001: Welcome to the new Chat Room feature. It had been decided that transmigrators be provided a feature to help them in their task of rewriting the plot. This feature is still being worked on, so please do expect updates to occur.
SYSTEM 002: If Users have questions, please feel free to @ your respective Systems.
User 001: What the fuck
William, like many other people in his current situation, shared that same sentiment. Albeit with a less crude wording, perhaps.
User 002: I'm not the only transmigrator here?
User 001: Apparently no
User 001: Although can I really be called a transmigrator if I'm just the same guy but 2 lives older & yeeted into young-me's body
User 002: … Omfg
User 002: Me too bro
User 002: Who're you??
User 002: Wait hold on @SYSTEM 002 will we get punished if we tell each other the truth
SYSTEM 002: No non-User is allowed to know about the SYSTEM's existence. As such, Users have full freedom of expression in this feature.
User 001: Cool
User 001: @SYSTEM 001 Can we change our username?
SYSTEM 001: Yes. Simply select the setting tab.
[User 001 has changed their name to Albert J. Moriarty.]
User 002: WHAT THE FUCK.
What the fuck indeed. And this time, William agreed with the exact wordings. What was this trick? If this wasn't a trick, it'd be understandable that Albert hadn't tried to tell even his little brothers, but this was going against all logic. Well, all logic that William himself was aware of, at least.
[User 002 has changed their name to Sherlock Holmes.]
Albert J. Moriarty: What the actual fuck bro
Albert J. Moriarty: Which version did William meet on that damn boat
Sherlock Holmes: 2 lifetimes-old me
Albert J. Moriarty: So technically you cheated at that time
Sherlock Holmes: Nah I was racking my brain to give him literally any other clue than the golden number thing I hate cheating when it comes to him
Sherlock Holmes: Might have to to prevent him from jumping off that bridge tho
SYSTEM 002: Warning: The Final Problem is an obligatory plot point. User must ensue that 'William' James Moriarty be publicly considered dead by the end of the plot point. The punishment protocol will be enacted if Users fail to meet the plot's requirements.
Sherlock Holmes: STOP TREATING OUR LIFE AS IF IT'S A FUCKING GAME
Albert J. Moriarty: That's what I've been trying to tell it for the past two decades. It never works, bro.
Albert J. Moriarty: Why do you think the whole Noatic fuckery happened.
Sherlock Holmes: And you didn't even try to find a loophole or smth???
Albert J. Moriarty: When tf did your ass get transmigrated into here?
Sherlock Holmes: 3 weeks ago
Sherlock Holmes: Apparently Victorian era-me died of a particularly nasty cold and the System couldn't get to boyo in time to keep him in his boyo body and had to go get a similar soul or smth instead
Sherlock Holmes: 21st century-me, also dead, just happened to be the first to meet the criteria
Albert J. Moriarty: Ah ok so I'm your senior
Albert J. Moriarty: Died in the 21st century too, got back here as a baby
Sherlock Holmes: Oml poor you
William frowned. If this thing in his head said the truth, then it'd have meant that his big brother had experienced death two times already. How did he appear so unbothered?
Albert J. Moriarty: Back to the point.
Albert J. Moriarty: Have you unlocked the OOC feature?
Sherlock Holmes: Yep
Albert J. Moriarty: … WHAT.
Albert J. Moriarty: HOW
Sherlock Holmes: Dunno, by meeting eyes with Liam?
Albert J. Moriarty: @SYSTEM 001 WTF IS THIS WHY IS IT HE GETS TO ACT OOC AND I DON'T
SYSTEM 001: User 001 has not yet reached the key quest to unlocking OOC feature.
Albert J. Moriarty: WHERE THAT KEY FUCKING QUEST AT
Albert J. Moriarty: YOU MEAN
Albert J. Moriarty: TO TELL ME
Albert J. Moriarty: THAT I HAVE TO PUSH MY LITTLE BROTHER FURTHER AND FURTHER INTO DEPRESSION AND DUDE HERE GETS TO ACT HOWEVER TF HE WANTS WITHOUT KILLING OFF SOMEONE DEAR TO HIM???????
Albert J. Moriarty: WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS
[Albert J. Moriarty has changed Sherlock Holmes's name to Lucky mofo.]
[Albert J. Moriarty has changed their name to Victim of injustice.]
Lucky mofo: Wait wait wait wait what did it threaten you with
Victim of injustice: What did it threaten me with??
Victim of injustice: WHAT DID IT THREATEN ME WITH???
Victim of injustice: IT WENT "oh you gotta make Will the Lord of Crime and set everything up for him to get suicidal thoughts or I'll kill off both of your dear brothers plus one Mycroft Holmes :D" LIKE WTF WHY
The blonde professor could only stare straight past the page he had previously been so focused on like an idiot.
According to this 'chat room', Albert… became a murderer… to protect him and Louis?
He was having trouble processing that. A lot of trouble. The two men conversing in that strange blue sheet seemingly had no idea that someone else was witnessing their whole dialogue, though, and thus continued without a care.
Lucky mofo: … Ah.
Lucky mofo: Mine threatened me with offing Liam Mycky & John if I didn't get my ass onto the Noatic.
Victim of injustice: … Ah.
[Lucky mofo has changed their name to Not so lucky.]
Victim of injustice: So our punishment protocols are essentially the same?
Not so lucky: Yup.
Not so lucky: And by the look of it, the OOC feature removal doesn't remove whatever those so-called obligatory plot points are
Victim of injustice: Anyway.
Victim of injustice: Expect the worst from that dog shit eater thing.
Victim of injustice: None of the loopholes I find end up having any actual impact on the overall course of things. The one time I tried to interfere in a major event? Louis nearly died. And IK it was the System because it. Announced. Enactment of the "punishment protocol".
Victim of injustice: And y'know what hit hardest? It all was for nothing. The major event still occurred with a three-month delay.
The pen William previously held slipped from his hand and fell onto the page with a small clatter, smearing ink everywhere, effectively ruining it and obliging him to rewrite two entire pages, but he couldn't care less. He cared infinitely more about what had just been revealed.
That resurgence of Louis' heart illness, just three months before they burned the original Moriarty mansion. It had come out of absolutely nowhere. The boy hadn't been breathing at all anymore. It had been a miracle that he had survived in the first place. At that time, everyone had merely assumed that the surgeon hadn't done good enough a job. Everyone except Albert, who had immediately summoned a doctor, while looking in a horrible emotional state himself. William had been partly blinded by his own worry for their youngest brother, but even then, he could see what he had perceived back then as an unreasonable amount of guilt in that cocktail of feelings.
And now, they were telling him this had happened because of this entity called the 'System'. This same 'System' that apparently wanted the three of them to become the criminals they now were. It took no genius to figure out that the brunette had tried to prevent that from happening, and it had lashed out on Louis as a punishment meant for their older sibling. No wonder Albert had felt guilty!
William had many incertitudes about this whole thing, even if this was a truth. That the System was an enemy wasn't one of them. Nor was that Sherlock Holmes was soon to become one of its victims.
Victim of injustice: Trust me bro I want to get William a happy ending.
Victim of injustice: You were the only one who succeeded at that in the previous version. You're my only hope now, dude.
Not so lucky: Welp now I wanna beat this thing to fucking smithereens.
Victim of injustice: 🤝
Not so lucky: 🤝
It was fortunate that the blonde was in his room. That whiplash of going from horrified for the life of him to utterly confused was scribbled on his face like an open book, he could feel it. In his defense, what did they mean, they wanted to give him a happy ending? That loving eldest sibling, he could understand, but the detective? From the hints he could get in those texts, that man had somehow been particularly close to William, in another life?
The System was a pressing concern, but William would be lying if he said his interest in the dark-haired man wasn't growing stronger and stronger.
Not so lucky: Now that we're united under the 'protecc Liam' banner, we need a plan
Not so lucky: @SYSTEM 002 Give us a list of all obligatory plot points, counting now on. With precisions as to what needs to happen in them.
SYSTEM 002:
Obligatory plot points:
- A Study in 'S'
-> Sherlock Holmes must successfully pass the Lord of Crime's trial, proving himself to fit the role of the Lord of Crime's nemesis
- A Scandal in the British Empire
-> Irene Adler must enter the picture, via her request for help
-> By the end of the plot point, Irene Adler is to be publicly dead
- The Phantom of Whitechapel
-> Charles Augustus Milverton enters the picture
-> Jack the Ripper must reintegrate into his role as an ally of the Lord of Crimes
- The Knight of London
-> Adam Whiteley must die as a hero
-> The Lord of Crime makes his first public appearance
- The Sign of Mary
-> First official confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and 'William' James Moriarty as nemesis
-> By the end of the plot point, the Lord of Crime's identity must be revealed to the public
- The Final Problem
-> Closure to the play begun by the Lord of Crimes
-> By the end of the plot point, 'William' James Moriarty is to be publicly dead
- The Adventure of the Empty Heart
-> After three years of being presumed dead, Sherlock Holmes makes his grand return
Not so lucky: So y'all telling me Liam and I still have to fuck off to America or god knows where else for 3 years
Victim of injustice: That's a buck load of plot points…
Victim of injustice: Wtf this is straight up the thing asking us to copy-paste that whole Lord of Crime 1.0 thing to this timeline!
Not so lucky: Not really
Not so lucky: Whatever plot point thing you couldn't prevent got delayed, right? So, technically, we can modify the course of events as long as it doesn't affect the obligatory plot points
Not so lucky: The wording leaves a lot of room for version-divergences btw if you haven't noticed
Not so lucky: I'll have to get John's ass comfortably settled in my flat tho, we need him and his books for the Final Problem thing
Not so lucky: @SYSTEM 002 Do we need to keep the 'William' in Liam's official name in the reveal?
SYSTEM 002: As long as it is 'James Moriarty the Lord of Crime', User may feel free to either keep, modify or omit his first name.
Not so lucky: Just testing my luck but @SYSTEM 002 is there any way to change the obligatory plot points?
SYSTEM 002: Users aren't allowed to change the obligatory plot points.
Not so lucky: @SYSTEM 002 Does that mean a non-User can change the plot points?
Victim of injustice: Holy shit
SYSTEM 002: Non-User are allowed to change the obligatory plot points. However, they must do that of their own accord.
Not so lucky: @SYSTEM 002 That means we can still make subtle suggestions and the like, right?
SYSTEM 002: Non-User are allowed to change the obligatory plot points. However, they must do that of their own accord.
Not so lucky: @Victim of injustice The thing is exactly like a law book AI bot bro
Victim of injustice: …
Victim of injustice: I've never felt more stupid in my three lives.
Not so lucky: Operation 'wink wink nudge nudge'?
Victim of injustice: What the hell kind of a name is that
Victim of injustice: Ok yea operation 'wink wink nudge nudge'
Not so lucky: Shit miss Hudson's here
Not so lucky: Gotta act like a manchild bye
Victim of injustice: You??? Literally??? Unlocked the OOC feature??? And you're still acting in-character???
That was the last peep from any of the 'transmigrators' for the time being. No new text appearing, nothing, the 'chat' seemed to have fallen dormant. Meanwhile, a certain blonde was still trying to process what he'd learned from this strange thing in his head - the reliability of which was still to be verified. A task that demanded him to set logic aside.
Assuming that this was real, should he go speak of this with someone? It was a very risky thing to even think of, since this 'System' seemed to want no more than the strict necessary people to know of its existence. But why would this 'chat room' appear in his mind, then? Was it a mistake on the System's part? Was this intentional? What was he truly going to do with this doubtful data he just got?
He was given no time to think further, though. Someone knocked at his door.
"Come in."
The door slowly swung open, as if the person behind it was hesitant.
Turned out, it was Louis. Whiter than usual, with worry displayed all over his demeanor. "William… may I talk with you for a bit?"
The older blonde smiled reassuringly. "Do you even need to ask?"
"… Right." Louis slowly stepped toward the desk where William was. "… Do you… Have you ever experienced having a strange blue tablet in your head?"
"… You too?!"
Both pair of crimson eyes could only dumbly stare at each other in bewilderment.