This fic was absolutely incredible, I could not stop reading. Amazing job, I really visualised the whole thing. Impeccable. Thank you for this masterpiece

Alright, I'm REALLY late to the game here, posting a review on a fanfic that was posted quite a few years ago, but hey, I'd only just found this fic days ago and binged it all the way through so... oh well!

Anyways, yowch... well that was an extremely wild ride from beginning to end. This was a really well written story overall. I had lots and lots of laughs and feelings (both good and bad) as I basically binged this story in 4 days. You are REALLY good at writing character dialogues, especially the hilarious bantering. I loved those exchanges a lot between Roxas and Axel, and all the other characters.

Did NOT expect this story to get as dark as it did by the end there, wow... But I'm glad there was a happy ending to it all. Mama Jenova is quite the force to be reckoned with, damn! I kind of loved how she handled the whole situation with Kadaj before she managed to get through to him.

Still going to need time to recover from those brutal last few chapters, but I reckon a revisit to those poker night chapters oughta fix that. The poker night ones had me cracking up all the way through, i very much enjoyed reading about all the protags being loveabley drunk idiots! Some of the most fun I've had reading a fanfic tbh.

Kingdom hearts was my first fandom almost 10 years ago. I read this story right after it was complete. I can't say I'm into KH anymore but I still consider it one of the best stories in the fandom. Its a damn fine story on its own, too. I enjoyed it as a teenager and I enjoyed it so much as an adult, which speaks volumes to me. I always check back to fanficnet a couple times a years just to see if you're still doing stuff on here because I love your stories. This one had a huge impact on me, so thank you, and I hope you are happy and doing well now whether writing or not.

Wow. This fanfic is completed, I'm impressed by the quality of the fanfic .
I really enjoyed the 1st life in Twilight Town and 2nd life of Roxas. The end just finishes the story beautifully

Hi Lauren,

So I believe this is my second time reviewing (first time in '08) and probably my third time reading the story. (Though I will say I've ready the first few chapters WAY more times than that, probably more times than any other group of chapters in any other story I've ever read!)

I really do love this story, and imagine it's one I'll keep coming back to again and again over the years. The initial chapters and scenes with Roxas, Axel, and the TT gang are wildly entertaining.

I enjoy the way in which you explore Roxas learning to accept/be comfortable with his sexuality and attraction to Axel. It's definitely something I think I overlooked a bit on initial reading(s). I also liked the way you transitioned from friendship to "like liking" to love.

Your writing was incredibly strong back when you wrote this, but I also appreciate the ways in which you've grown as a writer in reading some of your more recent works. You've always had amazing skill in the way you convey emotions of the characters and evoking emotion from the reader, but I think from a technical standpoint you've really tightened up your exposition and storytelling in general. In reading this story for the third time, I felt that the middle section pacing dragged a bit, and found myself skimming through some parts. (Please take that critique with a grain of salt, because I'm known to sometimes change my mind with subsequent reads, and honestly, perception of pacing can be totally subjective!) But again, I do think in your more recent works your exposition sections are descriptive but more concise, which I see as part of your growth as a writer!

There were parts of this story in which I felt uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say it was a "bad" uncomfortable. Reading this now that I'm a bit older, there were times I saw (or perceived) elements of Roxas' and Axel's relationship as unhealthy. I think that my perception that the obsessiveness, dependency/co-dependency, and poor coping mechanisms were being romanticized was what led me to feeling uncomfortable, as well as the repeated notion that Axel could "fix" Roxas. I do like that Axel calls Roxas out at one point for trying to seduce him to stop Axel from asking questions and actually dealing with what was going on. Obviously, the Jenova programming to some extent influenced Roxas' behavior in specific instances, but I don't think the underlying issues really would have just magically disappeared at the story's conclusion when the programming was removed. I'm glad at the end we saw a great snapshot of life with Axel and Roxas in the future, but I don't think it would have been an easy path for either of them to get to the point of stable and healthy, and I guess part of me was hoping for a scene that really dealt with Axel and Roxas resolving (or making significant progress) before the final scene on the clock tower.

It's a bit long winded, but I do want to be clear - I don't have problem with the fact that I perceived the Axel/Roxas relationship to be unhealthy in and of itself. I appreciate that this story deals with very difficult relationship concerns, and also appreciate that the characters do challenge each other on several occasions throughout the story on if certain behavior is appropriate or healthy. My critique has more to do with the fact I wanted to see one more scene with Axel and Roxas the helps us as readers make the leap to understanding how they would be able to progress to a healthy relationship, because I just don't believe Jenova was the root cause of all of it (although Jenova played a role for sure). Of course, this is all subjective, and I realize other readers may not have had that takeaway.

I will say I did love the inside simulation scene and getting closure with Hayner, Pence, and Olette as well as the scene on the clock tower in "real Twilight Town" with Axel and Roxas, and really am glad these were part of the final chapter.

Anyway, I really love this story overall. I couldn't believe it when I saw one reviewer pointed out you wrote this in like 3 months! That's amazing! I'm so impressed the ways in which your writing has made me feel emotions over the years, in this story and so many others. I hope you know I'm a huge fan of your work although I may have critiques form time to time, I will always try to be as constructive as possible!

Thank you for all the time an effort you have put into writing these stories, and also honing your craft as a writer. You should feel proud of what you have accomplished (based on hard work talent) and know that it has paid off as demonstrated by your continued growth and high quality of your work.

All the best,
Lightning Sage

Such a good story! I especially love the portrayal of Axel in all of your works!

“...that’s not true! I would.”
Just for this chapter alone cause you just had to add that canon line lmao.

I remember waking up at like 5 AM in middle school read as much of this story as I could before I had to go to school. Now I'm almost thirty and have spent the past few days reading on my phone at work 33 This fic has held up so well, thank you so much for writing and posting (and leaving it up!).

LOVE IT

This fic was amazingyou did a fantastic job! I’m sorry I didn’t review each chapter, it was just because I wanted to flip the page and keep reading!I started reading it about a year ago and got to chapter 22ish before life got in the way; I restarted it last week and just finished it. It was great! You have a real talent! I know you wrote this years ago, but I write this in the hope that you still get some satisfaction and pride from these reviews. Some excerpts that cling to my memory are when Seph broke in the first time (chilling), breaking bones for mother, when Axel was rushing to the lab after the alarms sounded (the desperation in his thoughts as he ran...), and of course chapter 39 when Jenova took over, holy fuck I was seriously gapping when Roxas ‘incapacitated’ Axel. I loved the obsessive aspect of his love for Roxas, and felt you were pretty spot on with the love confession for a situation like that. You did a beautiful job creating a (two) world and bringing these characters to life. Their inner dialogue and thoughts were well executed and methodical. I never once thought the character progression was too quick (which is very common in ficsI really don’t have much to complain about (except for wanting more smut, selfishly), I enjoyed it from start to finish. Thank you for sharing your beautiful creative mind with the world! It was truly a pleasure!

Hhoolllyyy fuck, that was fucking crazyI literally had my hand covering my mouth, that was so fucking intense

...Dude. Today is the 10th anniversary of this thing. I first read it a few years ago and honestly it’s still one of my all time favorite fanfics. I still reread it every once in a while. Thanks for writing it!

This is a trend with is becoming annoying. How come in a axel/roxas fic basiclly all the human character big or small have storylines in them but sora and riku are always have either small cameos or not mention at all. But when it comes to Soriku stories axel/roxas have big storylines in them. / / / /

Wow! I was so absorbed by it all! I really love how this story turned out! I have to admit, after "Sephiroth" kidnapped Roxas, I was afraid to continue reading... But I'm glad of how it ends. Wouldn't have done it differently. Well done! Keep up the good work! And by the way, this story is now on my favorites! Thanks for sharing!

I read this fic a long time ago and loved how you created an AU world with such strong ties to canon materials. The relationships between the characters were vivid, and some of the scenes have never left me (Jenova!Roxas; breaking bones for mother).

I wanted to make a point of sending you a thank-you for writing this fic, and to tell you how it affects me even to this day: I just started playing KH2 for the first time since I finished it back in 2007/2008? Somewhere around there... Playing through Roxas' week, I reached day 5 and the 7 wonders. I was immediately gripped with flashbacks to Roxas' deprogramming from Twilight Town in this fic. It really added to the Roxas whump feels! Thank-you, thank-you for this experience! :D