FOREWORD

Story first conceived Aug-1-15

"Sherlock" is the property of Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and the BBC which in turn is based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I only own the plots of these stories and a few OCs.

In all my "Sherlock" stories, I have tried my absolute best to write as "British" as possible, but there will be times where my American will be showing. Sometimes because I just couldn't find the British equivalent or had no idea there was a British equivalent. And in regards to clothing terminology, the metric system vs. United States customary units, etc. I had to use the American version on purpose as it was the only way to have things still make sense in my head as I wrote. The story has to be comprehensive to the writer first and the reader second.

I profusely apologize in advance for any confusion.

When I began researching in earnest for my Sherlock fics, it really hit me just how "foreign" Great Britain is! You'd think being a devout Anglophile for the longest time, I would have noticed this much sooner in my life, but it was never that significant until I started writing. Go figure! Sometimes I would be so desperate to find common ground that I would actually make a mental note of that one Kellogg's Corn Flakes box in Lovejoy's kitchen, or how that one episode of "Minder" showed a Pepsi sign in one shop. Yeah, those shows are decades old, but every little bit helped. The day I found that Wikipedia made a large two-page list of words that have different meanings in American English and British English…the "Halleluiah Chorus" played in my head for hours! Prevented so many mistakes from happening and cleared up a lot of confusion! I can't even!

I have also undertaken artistic license with the various characters' ages, but hopefully still within credibility.

There are multiple reasons why I wanted to write my own interpretation of the BBC series.

Main explanation for now: I have very mixed feelings about series 3 overall. *HERE THERE BE SPOILERS AT YOUR OWN RISK*

Good bit, and it's a big one: Mary Marston is finally introduced and she is the BEST interpretation since the character was first introduced little over a century ago! Not just because she is played by Martin Freemen's real life partner Amanda Abbington, which means at least the romantic chemistry will be believable and that's all I ask for in romantic couples, but because we have a Mary who gets the important bond between Holmes and Watson and encourages it to keep going strong without being petty/jealous/bitchy about it. This is a Godsend to me.

Bad Bits: The overall direction the show is going in sheer grimdark. I'm looking at you, Moffat! Cripes, man! Watch some Care Bears or My Little Ponies and get some balance in your dark brain! Yeesh! You're inducing severe depression in your audience! Quit it!

How they had Moran be what felt like a mere walk on when he is one of the most dangerous and interesting of Holmes' villains. I do get that Moffat and Gatiss wanted to have the series be emphasized on Magnussen as the main villain, but then why did they have Moran show up at all? Couldn't they have saved him for a later series?

Mary's backstory. I do like her being strong and capable of taking care of herself. Nobody wants a "Damsel in Distress" girlfriend, or much worse, a "Lois Lane" which I hate with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, but this whole "Assassin" thing? I dunno, it's just a couple steps over the line of credibility for me to realistically buy.

Molly. I've always liked Molly and love that they "promoted" her to be someone cool enough to become a part of Sherlock's small circle of allies/friends. I like that she's one of the first OCs in a Sherlock Holmes adaption that's a part of the main cast as well as a likable one. I hate that whole Tom the fiancé thing. It feels like Molly took three steps back into being the pathetic doormat that she started out as and lost most, if not all, of her character growth.

In-Between, Your Opinion May Vary, Bits: Sherlock shooting and killing the villain. Again, I dunno. This is something that has always depended on the interpretation of the character.

The original literature Sherlock Holmes was pragmatic, would often go armed (if not a gun than a small cane that can crack someone's wrist easily) and had a more old-fashioned mentality about not weeping over killing killers.

Basil Rathbone's Holmes did have his moments of being cold and standing by while letting the villain died when he could have tried to stop him. See "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" as primary example.

Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock has had moments when if someone dies, regardless of who's responsible, he shows subtle signs that he cares. Even if it's a total stranger, it matters to him and he always says something to that effect.

However, he was willing to blow up himself and John in order to stop Moriarty, and I can easily believe he would kill to save those he loves (your opinion may vary on platonic or romantic).

But this simply boils down to that I just find it extremely hard to believe that both Mycroft and Sherlock would apparently mess up to the point where there was no other choice but to kill Magnussen. That feels way too OOC for both of them.

So here we are.

Because of this and other reasons that I'll expand on when I post the stories more relevant to those reasons, I decided to write a Canon Divergent/Headcanon Sherlock series 3 and onwards!

There will be a few elements from certain scenes/episodes that I will be shouting out to because I thought they were that good and because it reinforces my headcanon. But those will be in minor doses as I don't want to have it look like I'm plagiarizing in every other chapter. It's an homage.

UPDATE: As of when I started getting back to working on this story en masse, I have not seen series 4, so don't expect anything in my stories to go in those directions.

I don't write grimdark. Angst, sure I got loads of those, I surprisingly have a knack for that all things considered, but not grimdark. Just. No.

If anything similar does happen in terms of what Doyle stories and story concepts was adapted for both the show and my fanfics, it's mostly because only so many of the 4 Sherlock Holmes novels and the 56 short stories have aged well enough to be adapted in 21st century tv/fanfics.

And also because "The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication." - Sir Terry Pratchett

My AU series is going to be vastly different. Hate it or be relieved, it's up to you.

For now, enjoy and please be kind in your critical comments!