Love Letters is finished! It’s posted to the kink meme in its entirety, and as she is in the process of posting it to AO3 (9 out of 15 chapters up so far), I think it’s time to rec this little bit of heavenly hell!
This story has been one of my absolute favorites in the realm of darkfic for the past nine months. It’s full-on psychological horror, and I am hereby invoking the name of Alfred Hitchcock, because that’s exactly the type and caliber of story she’s created here.
BE WARNED: Truly horrific imagery waits within, even though the events of the story itself are almost entirely devoid of violence. The horror largely takes place in a series of terrifying letters, in which Moriarty psychologically tortures John till he fucks everything up royally.
And I mean it, those letters are truly, objectively terrifying. This story teaches you exactly how it really feels to have a violent, threatening stalker. It puts John in a hyperbaric chamber and cranks up the pressure to find out exactly how much it takes to make him crack—and you’re right in there with him, right next to Sherlock. Even though the POV is kept tightly on John, you know exactly how Sherlock feels throughout the story, because you feel the same way. As much as I love BAMF!John (and you all know how much I love John), this is not a story about him saving the day and being awesome. This is a story about trying to survive intact.
Poor John. Poor Sherlock.
Also, as befits such a story, the ending is of the ‘glimmer in the dark’ sort, rather than truly happy. But after the total blackness that luthier brings us to, it looks pretty damn upbeat by comparison.
Completely brilliant, mindbending writing from an excellent writer!
If you’re feeling impatient and you want to read it in its entirety on the kink meme, you can find it here:
Parts 1-5: http://sherlockbbc-fic.livejournal.com/14213.html?thread=78116741#t78116741
Parts 6-15: http://sherlockbbc-fic.livejournal.com/8300.html?thread=91237996#t91237996
BBC Sherlock rec: Love Letters