I followed the link from your lovely artwork on Elfwood, which I hope excuses the extreme lateness of this review.

I first want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this - I've been searching for a good Gren/Vicious fic for a while. The characters are extremely well written and every change from canon makes perfect sense.

One part I'm going to remember forever is the part in chapter 11 where Gren's complaining mentally about the architecture. "Cheapasses. They could have at least installed lights in here." *snark*

The end of chapter 13 was simply perfect, but I'm glad you added more.

As much as I hate to be picky, there's one factual error that's been bugging me throughout the fic. Gren is in fact older than Vicious and Spike by two years, and taller - as tall as Jet, actually. I do not blame you for this in the slightest - easy mistake, as Vicious /looks/ older - just thought I ought to point it out. I found all the information I could on Gren before adopting the character (in a sort of casual, ongoing RL roleplay), and I'm probably the only one who cares.

Ah, and I /know/ how witchy I sound, but the name "Mr. Saxophone" is never used in the original version, only in the dub. The use of it bugs me severely, but again I'm probably the only one who cares.

Thank you again for writing this. *bows* Arigatou gozaimasu. Gren thanks you, too.

*shakes head* Spike thoughts. Thoughts of Spike. How incredibly morose, yet intriguing at the same time.

"Julia is safe. Vicious is alive. She left -you- with -him-."

And our ever-perceptive Faye-Faye boils it all down to a few sentences. Not that it should be -too- surprising. *smiles* All Julia ever really did was continue to leave Spike behind.

And, ooh...confrontation. Erk, Grassy wants to read more...but there is no more... *sobs*

Is there, maybe possibly, some more coming of this fic eventually? Please? *turns up the dreaded pouty-kitty-eyes at you*

Just as Faye chose this moment to burst in.

Ooh... *winces* Faye-Faye always has such poor timing when it comes to these things.

"You're a bit louder than you were a few months ago."

Sheesh, she doesn't -need- to get any louder...

Incredible how you women can put so much meaning into one syllable.

*smirks* Yep, yep - we're damn accomplished, lemme tell ya...

One must truly worship this site. Truly.

*bows in reverence*

'Tiles again,' he could have cursed. 'There's even tiles in Hell.'

You -really- don't like tiles, do you, Vicious...

"That is not what I was getting at," Gren continued softly, "you were trying to protect me from her...weren't you?"

"That woman was poison."

*nods* Yep, yep. And her only saving grace, IMHO, is that she generally didn't lie about that. She may not have advertised it, but...yeah.

They spent the better part of two hours battling back and forth with words like an insane, unseen game of chess. They took turns, bashing at each other's long-standing walls of defense, withdrawing, and charging again, even as their own battlements crumbled around them. Finally, down to chasing each other's kingpieces around the conversation, Gren called in his knight and pinned his opponent.

Kya~...the imagery here is just...sugoi! Ya gotta love chess references in a story - it always bodes for the most interesting of things...

"Comrades are for those with the luxury to trust."

Man, you've got me crying -again-. *grabs tissue box*

...even fallen angels could find heaven once more.

Gyah! So happy, so sad, so WONDERFUL! And there was -kissage-!

"Bang."

Ah, the line that shall live on for eternity in the CB world...

The musician hoped for Faye's sake that her Cowboy hadn't bought the farm.

*snickers* Cowboy...farm... *giggles*

"Damn. I don't...even have...control of that...do I?"

"No."

Poor Vicious... Nope, control is something that relatively few people ever really have. Generally, it's an illusion of control that winds up controlling one's self. Besides, if he'd -truly- wanted control of his own death, he would have killed himself and made sure it was done properly.

Vicious and Spike. Spike and Vicious. They're both so smart...and yet, so incredibly stupid... *smirks* Damn that whole self-destructive thing they've got going down. *shakes head* Makes one wonder what might have happened had Julia never existed...

What did those bastards think they were doing, putting the main hall on the top floor?

Um...discouraging people from showing up on their doorstep? Encouraging exercise so as to stay fit? Wanting to be original? Hmm...

At last...it was over...

Er, I think Gren might possibly have something to say about that. Hehe...just a hunch.

I'm gonna miss that dog...

Only Spike would think something like that in such a situation... *shakes head*

To slay the Dragon. To slay both dragons. And with any luck, the one he killed last would in turn do the same service for him.

Ah...the lurveliness of Vicious's self-destruction...

He hadn't cared at first. Sure, he felt a little sorry for the poor kid, but he was the target, and Vicious hadn't been given a choice in the matter. After all, he hadn't expected to end up trusting the man! Hadn't expected to end up wanting to protect him...

*nods* Yep, yep. 'Cause we all know that Vicious is always the -last- to realize his feelings about these things. And how strange it is that, even in this, everything comes back around to Julia...

He'd betrayed the one person who never expected anything from him in return. Small wonder Gren nearly lost his mind when someone casually explained that it was Vicious who had testified against him.

And -finally-, the man realizes the truth of the matter! Sheesh. How a man so incredibly intelligent... *sighs*

"Yes. And now I'm going to return the favor and keep you here so I don't have to go find you later. Because if you leave, I'm going after you."

*blinks* Wow. Just...wow. Gren ordering Vicious around is quite a change, I must say.

One hell of a way to keep the sand out of my teeth...

Ooh, trench!sex... *snickers*

Is that what he did? Gave me a Vicious-style slap on the rump to push me away?

Well, one would think spankings from Vicious would be more sex-related than anything, but...one could suppose so, I guess.

Vicious angst, wai~!

The same bitch that murdered me gave him life. No wonder I've never stopped hating him.

And -that- is the most perfect summary ever of the whole Vicious/Julia/Spike...-thing-.

As much as I love all the CB music, "Goodnight Julia" is the absolute -best-.

And now, for some Spike angst...

"I was a ghost even before I died."

Gah, Grassy -loves- that line! It's so very muchly appropriate.

Have I ever mentioned how addicted I am to angst? 'Cause this fic is full of it and, at the moment, you're my dealer. *huggles you*

*sniffles* Gah, I really -am- crying, now! So sad... *whimpers*

...oh, how I lurve when fics make me cry...

"I'm not an unfeeling bastard."

*shakes head* Nope. Vicious's problem, IMHO, is that he feels too damn much and doesn't really know how to accept and deal with that. *smiles* As Gren knows, betrayal can fuck with one's head worse than just about anything else.

And yet, here he was. Looming over the side of the hospital bed like a feral, crouching shadow. A reminder of the death that never came. Never rescued him.

*blinks* That is a damn good description of Vicious. -Damn- good.

And ya gotta love depressed!Gren - he gets so dreary and verbose that he becomes even more beautiful in his tragedy...

"Are you an angel?"

"An angel, fallen from heaven."

"Then I suppose...that makes you a devil."

Gah, that whole exchange made me wanna cry... *dries eyes* In fact, this whole -chapter- had me ready to burst into tears!

Poor Gren, poor Vicious...poor -everyone-. *sniffles*