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I read this story mainly because I haven't given the minor characters' post-battle lives too much thought. I mean, I've thought about it, but not in the depth of this.

This story is amazing. Seriously, aft to stern, it is just such a heart-wrenching, thrilling ride through the eyes of someone who is more screwed up than any one person should be. There are just too many awesome things about the story to list them individually.

First off, the idea that they all keep meeting, even though most of them don't want to go, just seems fitting. I'm sure it's not unlike yearly memorial services for some war vets in our world. But the idea that they owe it to their comrades to be there would keep them going every year.

I completely get the idea of the initial hate/hurt sex between Michael and Lisa and how it became a sort of addiction. It's just incredible that you could take such a complex set of emotions and write them so well and so believably. It can't be easy to put yourself in the shoes of someone who's been hurt so badly and so deeply to portray it so well.

I do wonder, however, what happened between Anthony and Lisa in the end. Did they get married at all? It owuld be sort of screwed up if they did, what with Michael's child, but I'm assuming they did. I also wonder if Michael ever found someone, or maybe he got back with Lavender.

All in all, this story was a brilliant piece of characterisation and 'what if'.  I feel like this is a legitimate scenario for the 19 years, and it makes me feel a bit closer to characters that would otherwise have never crossed my mind. Thank you for that. :)

Take care and happy writing,

Jess

Author's Response: I do love writing utterly screwed up characters, and Michael is just such a delightful mess here that my evil muse thoroughly enjoyed toying with him. I do love writing the minor characters because there's just so much scope for 'what if'. It's funny, the Michael/Lisa dynamic didn't feel complex to write even though the emotions are such a mess. I guess perhaps it's easy to relate to a situation where you just keep going back to something that's so bad for you because it's human nature to cling on to things, and we've almost all been there in some form at sometime even though the specifics are different, I'd have thought. You know, it had never occurred to me that Lisa and Anthony could end up together, because I just thought of him as the supportive friend who may have had just a little bit of an reciprocated thing for her, but it would be the perfect screwed up ending if they did. Funnily enough, in my mind Michael doesn't end up with Lavender because by the time they have their heart-to-heart, she is with (and stays with) Seamus, not because she's head-over-heels for him or anything but because it's safe and familiar (not that I overthink background that doesn't even appear in the story to much or anything!) Thanks for the lovely review, Jess.