Now I know Game of Shadows doesn't go too much into Colonel Sebastian Moran; but as he is played by Paul Anderson in that movie, and Paul also plays Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders, who just happens to be a character that I love; I felt I wanted to do something for Moran too. So, I hope you enjoy 😊

The former colonel stood atop the roof of the opera house, taking a drag from his cigarette while he waited for the moment to shoot; his shooting stick and tripod set up in the better position to the one that he had originally taken. His wind gauge on the wall in front of him.

This was just another job that he would be doing for the professor; an easy six hundred and fifty yard shot, that would end one more life. A life that would be added to all the lives that he had already taken. Some in the service of Queen and country, and others.........other not.

Taking another drag of the cigarette that was filled with the tobacco that had become his go to during his time in Afghanistan; Hirschsprung with a slight touch of Tekel, he pulled out his pocket watch.........two more minutes. Two more minute and he would pull the trigger, before the planned explosion, lit up the Paris skyline.

His life had not always been like this; not always entailed him working for a criminal mastermind and doing his dirty work. Once he was a distinguished officer, a colonel. The son of Sir Augustus Moran, educated at Eton College and then the University of Oxford. The best marksman in the British army; feared and respected in equal measure. But then........then his world had come crashing down around his ears; his remarkable career over. Everything that he had known and held dear, crumbling around him, that one fateful day......the day that he had lost her.

(Y/n), she had been his everything; the most beautiful woman in the world. The one that made sense of his life. He had originally met her at a function that had been organised for the newly graduated officers; he and his fellows walking into the ballroom, in their dress uniforms. Sebastian looking around the others that had also been invited; at the other officers, their wives, dignitaries and odd politician; yet he wasn't concerned with them, he had met his fair share of those people while his father had been the Minister for Persia, no; what had caught his attention though was a woman, the most beautiful, breathtaking creature that he had ever seen. His usual calm heart, skipping a beat, as he had caught her eye, and she had smiled. Sebastian forgetting about everything else, as he made his way through the guests, to where she stood with some other young women; women that, as far as he was concerned, did not exist. The soldier holding out his hand as he asked if he could have the honour of the next dance; sure, that he had felt the spark of something wonderful, as she had placed her hand in his.

They had spent the rest of the evening just dancing and talking. Sebastian listening intently as she had told him about who and what she was; about how she had come to be at the party. It turning out that she was the only child of a rather well known general; and given that her mother had died a number of years ago, he had brought her with him, instead. Sebastian finding himself hoping that the night would never end, as the two had continued to move around the floor. Found himself hoping that the world would just disappear and leave them in this moment; his arms around her, as they swayed to the music. Yet like it or not, the night could not last forever; though he had made sure that he would be allowed to call on her in the future. Made sure to introduce himself to her rather formidable father; of course, telling the old man who his father was, before he had had to depart from his beautiful dance partner.

It had only been a matter of days before he had found himself on the doorstep of her home. The sweetest posey of flowers in his hand, and the biggest smile on his face, as she had come into the parlour to greet him; Sebastian wanting to tell her there and then, that he loved her. That he wanted nothing more than for her to be his wife and spend the rest of his life with him; but he had told himself to wait, and he had waited.........only six months, but he had waited. And when he had got down on one knee and she had said yes to his proposal; he knew that there could not be a happier man in the world, than he was at that moment. Sure, that he was marrying an angel, a goddess as he had seen her walking down the aisle on her father's arm. Silently promising himself that he would love her forever; that he would protect her and give her everything he could. Sebastian feeling as though his life from that moment on would only get better; and it had done, well, it had done until that day he had not been there to protect her. The day that she had been taken from him; killed while he had been stationed in Kabul. The news of her death, shattering his heart into a million tiny pieces; there now nothing but a void where his heart had once been. His life spiraling out of control; his bright future become nothing more than a nightmare as he stopped caring. Sebastian finding himself being dishonourably discharged; his return to England culminating in him falling into a life of crime. And that was when he had met Moriarty; the professor offering him a position, a new life. A chance to do something more than take money by beating drunken fools, at cards; and he had taken it, for right or wrong, he had taken it; and now he was in too deep, to get out. Aware that this would probably only end when he was also dead.

Once more he opened his pocket watch, his eye falling on the small photograph contained within it. His lips carefully touching the image of his beautiful wife. The colonel pushing away the tear that was slowly making its way down his cheek, before snapping the watch shut and placing it back in his waistcoat pocket, finishing his cigarette and putting it out, before pushing a single bullet into his gun and pulling the trigger.