Hi!Oré wa Alexeis desu.Yoroshiku.I just read your fic.It pains me too that such violence took innocent lives,and we're not even able to save them.I pray that those people's souls would be at ease,for the families that survived them surely are not alone in their grief.I know it's already nearly a couple of years late,but i send my support and regards to you and the others who have lost a dear friend,brother,sister and lover during that fateful day.Your story has touched me deeply.Arigatou yo...Oh,and my friends here wanted to tell you something: please,always stand firm and never let their light fade away from your heart.Ja né...

Your friend from the Philippines,

Alexeis G. delas Alas

Deep. upsetting.

Meaningful

i know this would be so late but i wants to say condolence to the frined that you lost. i would say that you conveyed a great deal of how great your friend is in this story.

This is moving, truly, it moved me down to my very heart and soul and was wonderfully written. Even though you may not have known Ryanne, I am sure you still felt the pain of loosing her. May her soul rest in peace as well as all those whose lives are taken before their time. May all those who were left behind in the loss of loved ones and treasured friends become strong enough to overcome their loss. But as anyone who has lost a loved one or has lived through a tragic event, no one shall ever forget and for everyone else, let no one forget the lives lost either.

Personally experiencing something horrifying and tragic, as well as violent is something that will stay with you forever. I nearly lost the closest person to me in my life, my brother. My brother and I have been through very hard times together and back then we were all we had. Growing up in a distraught home with only my mother who wasn't ideal and often made it hard for us to believe we were worth anything or more than a burden to her made us strong. I raised my brother as a result of our home life. So my love and devotion for him runs deeper than my being his elder sister. I am the only mom he has known, he has told me as such and would say it to anyone else. Not only was he my younger brother, my son, but he was my best friend. We understood one another and confided in each other through the hardest times of our lives. Four days after Christmas this past december, twelve days after I turned nineteen, my entire world changed . . . My brother, stepbrother, my brother's best friend and his best friend's girlfriend were walking home from the park two miles from our house. At home, I had just spoken to my brother, he was calling me to let me know he was heading home. I would have gone to pick him up, but he said he wanted to walk. Then, not twenty minutes later I felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart, that is how close my brother and I are. I looked at my clock it 6:03 p.m. I ran from my room to encounter my stepmom in the kitchen on the phone, her face sheet white and clutching the house phone in her hand so tightly her knuckles were white. She said nothing to me as she walked out of the kitchen and through the backdoor. I stood there until I heard my dad knocking on my bedroom window by the backdoor. Then when I stood before he said my brother was hit by a car. The pain in my heart magnified and grew to consume me in my soul. He wouldn't answer me when I asked if he was okay. Time went on and I was to the point where I felt numb, then the phone I never remember picking up rang. My stepmom called and told me that he was being lifeflighted. It was automatic for me to think that he was close to dying if he was being lifeflighted. That night lasted forever, a night I will never forget, a day that started as a typical day became a marking stone in our lives. I nearly lost my brother, my son, my best friend, someone I have lived my life for for as long as I can remember. I have been through so much as he has as well, but no one can ever imagine something like that happening to them. He made it through, but all of us still have a long road ahead of us, especially him. He suffered a massive head trauma and though he remembers who all of us are, he still doens't remember most of the hardships we went through together. It is like he lost who he was and I know it has to be ecrutiating for him, deep down. Even though he doens't remember his childhood, he has me to turn to and I try to tell him only the good parts, in some cases it's best he doesn't remember all the bad. I will tell him everything in time when he can better handle it. He is still my brother, stil my best friend, and still my son, I raised him and love him with everything I am, always have and that will never, ever change. My brother was lucky to live, the doctors said that it was a miracle he had survived and that he was recovering so fast physically. Even though it will be a while before he is himself again, I am so very happy he is alive. If he had died that night, there would have been no way for me to recover, as I said, he is my life, I have lived to take care of him and be there for him. It was only recently before that I had started to become somewhat close to any of my family members besides my aunt and grandfather, but both of them have also passed away. It shattered all of us and as we pick up the pieces I will do everything I can to help him pick up the pieces and find the ones he has lost. Something so sudden and so close to becoming tragic awakened all of us, we appreciate so much more, I always wish that we could have found this appreciation without it nearly costing my brother his life. But we can only move on and always remember that life is precious and fragile. My experience may not be the same as the tragedies across the world, but I will never forget them either. I will always remember 9/11, and the shootings that have taken lives across the nation. But when something effects you personally, it leaves a different sense of reminding you.

Thank you for writing such a moving story, and thanks for reading my reply. Bless you and everyone around the world, may we all learn to cherish our lives and pray that more lives will not be lost. For those lives who are lost, may we never forget them and keep them in our hearts always.

This is a great fic and also a very, very sad one but it fits so well. And the title is so fitting because its the question we all ask when these kind of things happen such senseless acts of violence and murder.

It was one question asked in my country in 1996 where a gunman entered Dunblane primary school and opened fire on a class comprised of 5-6 year olds. 16 children and a teacher were killed and 12 children and 2 teachers were wounded.

And I also heard a lot about the Columbine high school massacre in 19 and I even watched a documentary on it.

I only know about the NIU shootings from what I watched on TV and I was taken aback by your own personal involvement in the tragedy. Whenever I hear about such tragidies I always feel sympathy for the families and friends of the victims.

As for this fic it was so heartfelt and meaningful and a very touching portrayal of the characters. I was saddened at the death of Kyoko and you've portrayed Kaname's emotions very well the greif she felt over the senseless murder of her best friend.

Sousuke well he was no stranger to greif and loss he lost comrades and friends. Sousuke's words near the end of the fic summarise everything all too well.

It's an extremely good story and everything it says is entirely true. I admire the way you stayed within the canon while writing something as heartfelt and as meaningful as this. Kaname, Sousuke and Kyouko are all very much in character, and I like the little touch of humor near the beginning...I think it captures the spirit of both Full Metal Panic and of what you were trying to say. Thanks for sharing this with me.
--Alenida

Wow... Wonderful use of the characters to try and make sense of senseless acts of violence. I believe you have captured both aspects of what you wanted to do from the characters of FMP and the reality and remembering of a real, live person who left behind a legacy she probably never realized. (those kinds of people seem to be clueless when it comes to how much positive energy and all they project, which makes them even more loved...)

Thank you for your time and energy in producing this work.

This was so sad and you did an awesome job. It was also good to see Sousuke give such a good answer. Loved it!

Sorry you had to write this.It was well written hope it helps you .I dont have any other words my thoughts are with you and the others who have suffred .

Beautifuly written and very poignant. I've added it to my C2 "Hallisons and Hand Grenades". I hope to see more great works from you in the future.

That was very beautiful and very well done and I hope it served as a catharsis of sorts. I will add that in my profession (I’m a 9-1-1 operator) I talk to a lot of people everyday during some of the worst moments of their lives and I can honestly say it still doesn’t make sense to me when something like this happens. I’m sure that the day it does will probably be the day that I need to quit my job. So, I have no words of comfort, there really are none, but I can see by this story that you don’t really need them. You are already attempting to deal with what happened. I will say again that it was beautiful, and touching, and I truly hope it helped with your grief, at least a little bit.

I feel bad for you, man. It sucks that this happened to fellow Illinoisans. The story's pretty darn good, looks like you modeled the events of the shooting after the NIU incident. Sorry you had to lose a member of your high school family. That actually happened to me in my senior year of high school when a girl was killed in a car accident. Like you, I never knew her, but her death hit me pretty hard because she's a fellow Trevian (New Trier Trevians). I actually, like you, have connections to NIU because some of my friends from high school go there. Again, good story. I'm sending you a little love from SIU.

Very touching story. I have never had some one die in a school shooting but i still pray for the people killed and there greiving familes. May all the school shooting victims Rest In Peace