This was beautiful. I definitely agree about the lack of character-development in canon. I've definitely had to find closure in fanfiction, which is unfortunate, but, hey, what can you do? Anyway, thank you for this.

you are a brilliant writer in every sense of the phrase. insightful, honest, and just plain amazing! i love the first (and last) sentence too. everything, just everything, was perfect.

Very nice. You're right about how the battle scene was less dramatic than it could have been. I was also very dissapointed.