Chapter Text
William Sherlock Scott Holmes was a boy who loved the ocean. He counted the days until his family would go to their beach house in the summer. He loved it mostly because he could take Redbeard – the family’s Irish Setter puppy – on adventures without Mummy, Father, nor Mycroft bothering him. He was especially excited for this trip because there had been a large storm the day before they had planned to arrive at the small cottage. All sorts of fascinating things washed up on the beach after a storm.When Sherlock had been able to slip away from his family, he grabbed Redbeard and set off down the seaweed riddled beach.
The Holmes’s beach house rested on a plot of land with a beautiful view of the ocean. The family owned the sunken beach that lay in front of the home, as well as the area around it. A small ways away from the isolated house, a monstrous wall of rocks rose nearly ninety feet from the water and connected to the mainland, a natural wall that also served as one of the boundaries of the Holmes' residence. Sherlock had nearly reached the wall when Redbeard started growling and backing away from it. Sherlock looked at his dog curiously before heading towards the spot Redbeard was growling at. The area was an area where, in low tides, small fish would get trapped by a wall of rock that made a large tide pool. When Sherlock was younger, he used to go swimming with his brother in the pool. Now, laying on the beach near the pool was something Sherlock would never have imagined seeing. The creature was still, apart from the rocking motion the waves gave the body every few minutes, so Sherlock crept closer, Redbeard’s growls serving as an ominous ambiance.
The figure appeared human – if you didn’t take into consideration the slightly blue pallor of the chest and stomach and the dark blue color on the back and the…well, tail. The head and face was the most human of the entire creature. The creature’s delicate face was very feminine and its long, black hair was free flowing with sections tied off into braids here and there. Its large eyes were cold and glassy in death and its mouth was slack as well, allowing Sherlock to peer into it. He was surprised to find that its teeth were so alien to his own because of how similar its face was. Short, needle like teeth with what looked like a hint of serration shone in the daylight. Its neck had two small slits on either side, and upon a bit of probing, revealed gills underneath.
It probably evolved to be more fishlike than human. Sherlock thought, already building a branching evolution theory in his head.
Sherlock continued studying the creature, his gaze falling on its chest. It wasn’t like what he had seen in biology textbooks and Sherlock wondered if her (he assumed it was safe to say this was a female) breasts were vestigial. They were smooth and flat against her body with no obvious nipple, further suggesting to Sherlock that they held no purpose for creature. He looked down her arms - they were slightly longer and more toned than his own mothers - and down to her hands. Unsurprisingly, they were webbed and they had a dark blue stripe pattern along the backs that continued up to her shoulder, getting lighter as it went. There were four more larger slits along her sides and upon investigation proved to be more gill slits. Another check in the fish column. Sherlock looked down at her…bellybutton. He was surprised to find one, given her lack of breasts. Ok, maybe not completely a fish. He looked further on, reaching the most curious part of her anatomy.
Where her legs would have been, there lay a large tail. If Sherlock had not seen the size of the animals, he would have believed that someone had surgically combined a woman with a dolphin. It wasn’t like the beautifully colored drawings or equally beautiful movies over the years. The tail also didn’t suddenly have scales and end in a delicate looking fluke that shouldn’t have worked very well. This creature was made for speed. The large fluke appeared to be larger than what would fit proportionally to the creature but it made sense to Sherlock. With her having hair, she would need for more power in order to make up for the drag created. He reached out to touch the creature and found that the tail was definitely not scaled but make of the same thick skin of her stomach and chest, something he thought felt like rubbery tofu.
There were two large bites in her tail, obviously the cause of death. There were huge chunks of flesh missing from the area slightly below her bellybutton, where her hip would be, and from where her knees would be. She must have been killed by some sort of shark or large whale and washed up in the beach in the storm. He wasn’t able to examine them further to try to figure out what species for he was startled by a noise coming from the tide pool.
However, noise wasn't an apt description. Noise suggested that it was something that didn't sound human. Upon closer review, Sherlock thought it sounded like someone who had just seen something horrifying. It was like a screeching, moaning, wail and it surprised Sherlock by making his heart clench with emotion. He jumped and turned to where the wail originated – noticing now that Redbeard had long since deserted him – and his eyes bugged as excitement shot down his spine. There was another living creature trying to claw his way out, along with one sitting on the wall that was reaching for it. The creature was slightly smaller than the one in front of him as well as the one on the wall. He knew the creature was male due to the lack of breasts despite the fact that the creature had longer hair than was normal for a human boy. The creature's coloring was also very different than the one laying in front of Sherlock. His coloring was much closer to Sherlock's and he had bright blonde hair. His eyes eerily matched the one on the beach and Sherlock knew immediately that the two were related.
The one on the wall resembled the female and was also an adult. The only difference was that it was male and had dark grey hair. Sherlock looked toward the water when he heard another wail and had to squint to see another young creature waiting in the open water. It's hair matched the male and Sherlock was struck with the realization that he was looking at a family unit. The young boy looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Sherlock as his father finally was able to grab his hand and throw him over the wall. The large male paused for a second to turn and hiss at Sherlock, lips pulling back to reveal very sharp teeth, before he too turned and fell back in to the open water.
Sherlock was unsure of how long he stood on the beach, staring out into the ocean, but he was snapped back to reality when he heard the sound of shouting coming from further down the beach. Sherlock looked to see Mycroft trudging through the sand, shouting his name. He rolled his eyes and thought of staying longer, ignoring his calls. But in doing so, it would bring Mycroft closer and allow him to possibly see the body. Also, Sherlock was getting somewhat peckish. Sighing, he turned towards his brother and set off down the beach, vowing that he would find a living specimen one day.