Fic: Death Before Dusk

[phoenixfalls.livejournal.com]

Title: Death Before Dusk
Author: yahtzee63 (Yahtzee)
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/Joan Watson
Length: 15,816 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None apply
Verse: Elementary
Author's summary: The bad news: In 111 days, an asteroid will strike the Earth in a cataclysm that promises to destroy human civilization as we know it.

The good news: There's been a murder.

Reccer's comments:
This is, without a doubt, the best longfic I have read in the Elementary fandom. It's a story about things on the cusp, the world on the verge of annihilation and Sherlock & Joan balanced precariously between simple friendship and something more. At the start of it they have been separated, each dealing with the impending apocalypse alone. As they investigate one last case Yahtzee digs in to their characters, getting to the core of Sherlock's reasons for investigating murders and what Sherlock gives to Joan. Yahtzee has captured Sherlock's and Joan's voices from the show exactly, but at the end of the world it's also crystal clear that these modern adaptations are, always and forever, no matter the trappings, Holmes and Watson.

This is a fic of high emotion rendered in a gorgeously understated way. The case is involving in itself in addition to the way it brings clarity to the characters; Bell, Gregson, Ms. Hudson, and Moriarty all appear, each dealing with the end of the world in perfectly characteristic and heartbreaking ways. There is a great deal of anguish here, imbuing virtually every scene, and yet ultimately the story is incredibly hopeful.

If you are only ever going to read one Elementary fic, I beg that you make it this one.

Comments

[catko]

Thank you so much for this rec; I never would have found this fic otherwise, and it is the first Elementary story I've read. Just lovely, in character, and your rec is beautiful to read in its own right.

[phoenixfalls.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad that my rec is bringing people to the fic, because I think it's amazing. (And thank you for the compliment on my rec -- I fiddled with it for a quite a while, trying to capture a bit of what moves me so much in the fic.)

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll definitely check that out, thanks for the rec!

[phoenixfalls.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy!