Disclaimer: I do not own BBC's Sherlock, nor do I own the plot to or characters in the episode "The Reichenbach Fall." I am merely having fun playing around with the idea of trying to retell that episode in the style of Beowulf.
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How we have heard of the cleverness of Sherlock,
The boorish boffin of Baker Street,
Recoverer of artistic treasures, deliverer of kidnapped bankers,
Capturer of criminals.
But Moriarty, malevolent miscreant, harbored hatred in his heart.
While the sun was high, he toured the Tower where,
With a refined rhythm he took the Crown Jewels, unsealed storerooms harboring Midas' gift and broke
open the thief-boxes within Pentonville,
Then sat in stony silence, sure of his seizure.
Certain of the snare he set for Sherlock, Moriarty arrived at the criminal court with confidence.
His prey would come to provide proof at the judgment-finding,
And yet, at the termination of the trial, Moriarty would march openly from Old Bailey, absolved of accusation.
After the trial, expecting his enemy, Sherlock prepared the leaf-brew,
And Moriarty came.
His talk teased Sherlock, tormented him with threats.
Moriarty maintained his foe would fall,
Then left – his challenge lingering in the air.
Two times the moon waxed and waned.
And then the children disappeared –
An ambassador's offspring.
He hired our hero to find them.
With ease, Sherlock located them in the abandoned shell of a factory,
But when he came to cross-examine the girl-child, she cried out in fear.
Detectives began to doubt him.
Was Sherlock the kidnapper? Did the freak fabricate the felony?
The law-enforcers forced him from his flat in handcuffs,
But his fast friend soon joined him, and together they fled.
A pause for breath led wandering eyes to a tabloid blaring the consulting detective's name.
Kitty Riley promised an exposé.
Suspicious of the secret-seeker's source, the men sought her at her home, where they found Moriarty,
Loathsome liar, living as actor Richard Brook.
He held that he was hired by Sherlock, the face behind false crimes.
Enraged, the hero chased him, his friend John at his side, but Moriarty escaped.
Sherlock saw the snare encircling him and left John for the lab and long-suffering Molly,
Cadaver-cutter in the morgue. He asked for her aid.
His plans in place, he messaged Moriarty: "Come play."
And Moriarty came.
The rivals rendezvoused on the rooftop, where the lunatic-lawbreaker declared his victory.
He handily cornered Sherlock:
The detective must dive and die in disgrace, or three friends would be destroyed.
The genius grabbed at one last gambit. Moriarty could call the friend-killers off.
The criminal concurred, then killed himself.
As Sherlock prepared to plummet, a cab pulled up, disclosing John.
So the consulting detective called his companion and claimed he was a fraud.
And while John watched, he leaned forward and fell.
John Watson, Shelock's support, spent the days that succeeded stunned and saddened.
His friend was no more.
But who was standing in the cemetery's shadows, witnessing his final farewell?
"I was so alone, and I owe you so much. … Don't be dead."
