WIP - "He never meant to hurt you. But he did, all the same."

A personal work, in progress. Unfortunately, it seems my drawing/colouring style has taken a turn for the 'taking-forever-to-do-a-simple-drawing' category. Consider this: I started this in July, and this is all I have managed to do so far (no, I mean I've done more frames, but this is how much colour I've put into them). I've tried to simplify my style, but it seems quite impossible.

Some background information: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wishing to be rid of the character that made him famous but also confined him to the same stories over and over, decided to 'kill off' Sherlock Holmes by having him die in the chasms of the Reichenbach Falls.

However, due to public backlash (not to mention ailing funds), he was forced to resurrect Holmes. Holmes returns after a three-year hiatus from the dead - the excuse being that he was forced to pretend he was dead in order to escape the clutches of Moriarty's henchmen - in 1894. All is well again.

My point is that I could have hardly imagined what Watson must have been feeling at the time; not only had he lost a best friend, but the reader may also know that only a few months afterwards, his wife will also die. To have to lose the two people you love most in so short a period of time is heart-breaking; to have it happen to someone with so big a heart as Watson's, the pain must have been more than he could bear. It seems that life is determined to make the best people suffer the most.

What irks me even more is that Holmes cannot contact Watson to let him know he is indeed alive and spare him the grief, for fear his attempts to contact Watson might expose him to Moriarty's henchmen, bent on revenge. However, he does still contact his brother Mycroft to ask for funds as he travels. Mycroft, knowing that Holmes is alive but Watson believes him dead, bears the burden of knowing he cannot do anything to help ease the pain.

In this scene, Mycroft approaches a visibly pained Watson, attempting to offer Watson some kind of condolence; however, Watson is having none of it. He brusquely brushes off Mycroft. Mycroft, knowing his brother is still alive, can only wonder if Sherlock fully understands the consequences of his actions.

Yes, melodramatic, I know. I would have been a good soap opera writer.