Fic Rec: Bending Time with Death

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Title: Bending Time with Death
Author: Ykyapril
Pairing: Gen
Length: 3,724
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Author Chose Not to Use Warnings, but I didn't see any reason for a warning.
Verse: Genderswapped BBC Sherlock (with a Joan Watson), set in Queen Victoria's time; crossed-over with Lovecraft, the Hounds of Tindalos, and -- as the author says -- "somewhat A Study in Emerald universe."
Author's summary: Once upon a time man's soul was very powerful, but then man made a pact with the Elder Gods, and in exchange for their protection, they gave up that power. Joan needs to recover that power if she wants to live, and Sherlock is more than who he seems to be.

Reccer's comments: I've been a fan of Lovecraft since forever -- not his racism or his anti-Semitism, but the creepy universe and the Cthulu mythos he created. Sometimes I wonder why it continues to resonate so powerfully with so many readers, and at what that says about me, about the authors who continue to write in that universe, and about the world we live in.

This is Ykayapril's only story on the AO3, and apparently her only BBC Sherlock story (she primarily writes in the Hetalia fandom). It's short, gen, and powerfully creepy. I felt she captured the alienness of a Lovecraftian universe and found her descriptions both persuasive and disconcerting. I loved her Joan Watson, who is just as strong as I want her to be (one of my favorite lines in the story is Joan thinks almost wryly that the reason Sherlock cured her psychosomatic limp is to help him kick down doors). The BBC's version of Sherlock is exotic and glamorous enough, thanks primarily to Benedict Cumberbatch, that I totally believe Ykyapril's version of him in the bizarre and frightening world she builds for us.

I'm always pleased when writers use ACD canon for the background, and we get Watson's time in Afghanistan and a wonderful adaptation of (fittingly) The Hounds of Baskerville here, in addition to the BBC's re-interpretation of both Mycroft and Moriarty, all efficiently and cleverly blended into the story.

Short, creepy, and emotionally satisfying.