Title: “The Quest of the Fair Headed.”
Author:
ariadnechanRating: PG-13.
Fandom: Sherlock and related fandoms
Characters: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Triton, Moriarty, The Moon, Hera, Thetis, Athena/Apollo,
Summary: “When Sherlock Holmes 'The Fair Headed', 'The grey-green eyed one' met John Watson he felt the electricity in his skin only equal to the one of a bolt in a stormy night. Sherlock knew there than this man who’s radiance had never seen before in any men or woman before would be his home.”
Warnings: Au, magic realism, greek-roman gods.
Word Count: 1490 Approx.
Author's Notes 1:
watsons_woes Prompt #19, Quote:
"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave." - Mohandas Gandhi.
Author's Notes 2: This is a companion to the
Ordeal of the Sun’Heir. This took me a little more of time because i needed to research about Athena a lot more than I thought at the beginning. Finally 'The gray-green eyed one' is one of the names of Athena because her eyes were gray, blue and green and if you read the drabble
In The Name of the Gods would know that John means 'The Gracious'who is also an epithet for Apollo. and Sherlock means 'Fair haired' that i change a little for headed in relation with the golden helmet which Athena born with.
Finally Triton was the one who assisted the labor of Athena making a cut in the head of Zeus so she could born from him. Hephaestus and his Mother Hera never liked Athena and Hephaestus had an endless rivalry with Athena for who made the most beautiful weapon, tried to trick her and rape her, obviously he didn't succeeded.
Beta: my fantastic friend
mildred_bobbin When Sherlock Holmes 'The Fair Headed', 'The grey-green eyed one' met John Watson he felt electricity in his skin only equal to that of a bolt in a stormy night. Sherlock knew then and there that this man whose radiance he had never seen before in any man or woman before would be his home.
He always felt like an old soul, always alone with his intelligence and his strategic mind buzzing for new puzzles to resolve and crimes to do justice upon. There were weavers of sins that men were capable of and he liked to unravel them and find the beginning and the end.
He was dedicated to his work and he didn’t need others or love, that was for little people; or that was what he thought until he lost himself in the sun that was John Watson.
But they had so little time. Moriarty didn't give them more, only three days; Sherlock knew happiness and love, the warmth of an embrace and the vow of a kiss.
And then John was stolen from him. Sherlock went to the pool with the plans, but Moriarty didn't want them, he was mad for something Sherlock didn't remember, something about who was better forging the better weapon, the most beautiful one, and why Sherlock didn't wanted to be with Moriarty and ran away.
Sherlock didn't remember ever forging a weapon or been courted for Moriarty ever. Moriarty said his real name was Hephaestus and his mother Hera was on his side along with Thetis in his vengeance. After that Sherlock only recalled falling into the pool.
When Sherlock returned to consciousness he was in a prison underwater, but he had no problem breathing; a young man was in front of him, he was a merman.
“So, at last your outside reflects your inner wish, Athena my goddaughter! We have little time, drink this.”
Sherlock didn't have too much alternative and took the cup and sipped. “What is this?” As Sherlock was drinking two things happened at once:
- He started to change into a merman just as the one in front of him.
- He remembered everything.
“Triton! What happened? I'm your prisoner?”
“No, my dear. You are a prisoner of my mother, but my father and I, are not happy with it, and Zeus has a way out of your predicament.”
“What I must do?” said “The Fair Headed One”
“You must answer a riddle with your heart and not your head. This is the riddle: ‘A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. And you would find that the light that shines at night on the sea sometimes would be strong, sometimes would be weak, but would be always there for you.’”
“You must know that the sister of this light more high on the sky would be steady every night for you as she had taken you as foster mother for this ordeal, because of the good you had done under her.”
“My gift for you was your transformation until you find the price in the sea, so you would not pass hunger nor had problems for looking in the ocean for it. Zeus sent you a touch of Memozine’s waters that Hades gave to him many eons ago.”
“Now go my goddaughter and find your happiness or your doom, we can no longer help you in your quest.” Triton gave ‘The gray-green eyed one’ a hug and then let him go.
Sherlock went to the surface and rested on a rock for some time, wondering what to do. He knew that the first part of the riddle was indeed in relation to his vows about his work and his intelligence of never marrying or lying with anyone. But he had being human in multiple lifetimes and his visions about everything were different, especially after meeting John Watson.
“The Fair Haired” knew that 'The Gracious' was no other than Apollo, one of the gods who always had been there but Sherlock never gave him a second glance till now, maybe he had changed too after too many times on earth, maybe they were always alone and never saw it before.
‘The grey-green eyed one’ submerged into the sea and started his journey he thought that if Hera and Thetis were in this together then John would be unable to leave his prison until he ended the quest.
That night he looked into the night for a light which rivaled the moon. And found that there were several, the stars, the lights of the ships on the sea, the cities over the coast and the lighthouses that lend their radiance to the ships at night showing the path to the land.
After some nights he ruled out the stars because he couldn't reach them in his actual form so the quest would be impossible.
Then he decided against the cities, because they were also impossible to reach now, and John wouldn't be imprisoned if he was in them.
So there were the ships and the lighthouses, and there was the other question, was Sherlock prepared for love? He decided to resolve the riddle first and then find an answer to the puzzle of his heart.
The sense of time was lost for ‘The Fair Headed’ as he decided that the lighthouses were the answer. But the ocean was vast and there were many of them on the sea. Sherlock decided to talk to his foster mother, maybe she could help him.
The Moon smiled at him. “You look beautiful under my light, my son, but I could not help you more than with my light until you resolved the riddle of your heart. When you'll have the answer, ask me again, my dear.”
Sherlock traveled for different coasts and looked at the night for a light which changed from night to night. Finally at great distance he saw a light which was one night strong and magnificent in its radiance and some others no more than lamp's luminescence, it was far away, but he could do it.
The more ‘The Fair Headed’ thought he was approaching it, the more far away it looked. There was always something that escaped him.
So he stopped to think it through.
The problem was obvious, the moon had told him so; he needed to resolve his feeling for John Watson first, his vows and his future.
He, Sherlock or she, Athena had vowed to be dedicated to the work and forget about carnal pursuits and love. Now ‘The gray-green eyed one’ was not so certain. The lives among the humans had been very lonely and insufferable until John. He had no powers and he could not help humans as before, no one to care about, that was really why he had this detective job, he helped others, used his intelligence, but never got involved. It was a form of shield, a protection from what humans and gods do to each other all the time. Maybe it was cowardice now, as a human. He was not sure.
John Watson had filled a great void that he didn't know had been in his soul and his life, and Sherlock didn’t know if he really wanted to be alone again.
‘The Fair Headed’ looked in his heart and tried to picture himself without ‘The Gracious’ forever, and he could not. Then he tried to think that John was really Apollo, and she was Athena and if they returned someday to Olympus, they would be married or something like that and how she would feel about that.
‘The gray-green eyed one’, reached the conclusion that there was no life possible if John Watson and his radiance were not in it.
That night he prayed to The Moon for guidance and his mother answered with more light than ever, showing him the path.
Sherlock finally arrived at a very little island where only a lighthouse stood and where the light was only a spark. And he started to call upon his John.
After sometime, John Watson appeared and his radiance was greater than the sun, he took him from the sea and when they touched each other Sherlock Homes came back to human form. Sherlock knew there that they were the brave so he told him.
“I love you, ‘Gracious’, radiant John Watson!” Sherlock cried, kissing him where he could reach.
“As I love you, you mad, beautiful, genius ‘My gray- green eyed one’ I don’t care if you are human or god, man or a woman, I love you so much.”
And after that John and Sherlock decided to take matters inside to ‘The Gracious’ sleeping arrangement in the tower, because what they had in mind was not for the ocean to see.
Late the next afternoon after a shower and change of clothes they finally took the invitation of Pegasus for the trip to Olympus.