This is an utterly amazing piece of work. I've read all of your Yami Marik stories now, as a major fan of the character and it's such a sadness to see you no longer seem to be on this site or write stories for them/yugioh.

This story is the last one I had yet to read and it has been such a good read.
Despite not being a fan of sad endings, I feel it was exactly how it should have gone. It ended so well. I won't write spoilers so new readers don't find out the ending but, you did such a great job.
I really wish I could find a long sickleshipping to read now after this.

Thank you so much for writing a great story, I hope one day that you will return to and continue to write stories about Yami Marik.
Despite not being a fan of thief, loathing the pairing in fact, this story didn't put me off because you write so well, so philosophical and all the other pairings in this story were my favourites.

It was such a good journey to read and I'm glad it was a finished piece.
-Julesie

Holy ****... FAV.!

This was really truly a beautiful piece of fanfiction. I love what you did with it & the absolutely twistedness of Yami Marik, Touzouko, and Yami Bakura's relationships : D You really did an amazing job all in all. Hope you write more fanfiction like this for Yu-gi-oh soon.

I absolutely love it. (It being this fic, of course.) After staying up till 2 am, I may be a little incoherant, so please bear with me.

I cried so much, reading this story. The way the two died in fire was well-written (I could and did picture it). Ryou and Malik's losses (especially since, in a way, Malik lost Ryou) prevent the ending from being happy, but it just makes the ending more conclusive.

And then, just as I thought that I had finished crying, I read the epilogue. HOO BOY. I bawled like a baby. Just when I thought that hey, Touzouko's alive! he turned out to be sick. And was happy about it! That was the killer - the fact that he was /happy/ about dying! (I don't think I deal well with death.)

Almost everyone in your story had a touch of insanity to them, and they all behaved like people rather than flat, cliched character-cutouts. You are a really good writer.

Thanks, and sorry for the short review!

-BS

This story was truly amazing. You write beautifully. I couldn't stop reading for a second. It was captivating. I totally got into it and feel so emotional about it. So sad! (I'm not used to not happy endings but every tear was worth it:).

From the begging the story was unfolding in a way that was always interesting, exposing details and surprises at the right moments, until the fitting ending and needed epilogue. A perfect combination of angst, sadness and bitter humor.

The characters were well written, interesting and developed. I love all of them :) I too related to Touzouko most. Great character.

Thank you so much for writing such a masterpiece. Can't wait to read the rest of your stories and hope you'll write more in the future.

Woah.

Just reached the end, and my God. It was so tragic but at the same time it wasn't. In a way, everything turned out the way it was supposed to.

I think the way you wrote about each character from anothers point of view was the best thing about this story. The way Malik sees his own brother's madness, the way Bakura sees Touzouko, the way Ryou sees Malik...

It was so extremely clever and poetic ad the depth of the story was astounding.

It was too upsetting to be the kind of story you're supposed to enjoy reading , but it was truly amazing.

You are a very, very talented author.

Hey~

I know I've probably reviewed this story before, but I just wanted to say: AMAZING.

It is the perfect mixture of plot and action and romance and desription and just plain goodness.

Your stories are amazing.

Wait. There's just one thing. This is like the most minimal thing in the world, but in chapter 1 you wrote 'feet' instead of 'feat'.

Kay. FANTASTIC. Kalxxx

Wow your story has literally left me speechless...

I can't even begin to tell you how much I 100% completely admire your determination to finish this and how you in no way disappointed your readers. Your beginning was drawing, your middle was consuming and your ending was both just and breathtaking.

Thank you so much for sharing the brilliancy that is this story it brought me both smiles and tears I look forward to reading more from you.

-ilovemanicures

This story really deserves more reviews! The way you describe everything is great and also the story flows really well. I loved the angstshipping! It's so cute, even though it wasn't the main pairing in this story, and I actually preferred Malik's perspective in the beginning compared to the other points of view! I loved the way you described Mariku too, it was kindof different to what I'm used to in most fanfics, but I could completely picture how he looked which was awesome :)

Wow, so much drama! I friggin' love it! *continues to read*

For a long time I have contemplated writing this review on this beautiful story. Also I have wondered how to contact you through any means and just when I had gathered the courage to tell you how wonderfully you have inspired me and how marvelous your writing really was and is, you removed the emailaddress from your fanfiction account.

I do hope for one reason that you read this review because you deserve to know it.

This story has been the most enjoyable one I have ever read. It had tension, a good plot, drama, good characterization, beautiful scenes and it made me cry at the end yet there was no other way to do. It's rare that I come across such a good fic, especially of a pairing I adore.

Bakura's and Mariku's ending. In the beginning one might hope for a good one but like you said, there wasn't a way around it. It was their ending, it couldn't have ended any other way by the way you've written it. Yet this hope you built up never left me, yet my heart bled when I read through everything. The epilogue; It was so powerful. It made me realize how much a few sentences could do, the true meaning of an epilogue.

Mariku's parting gift. It's a sad thought that Touzouko, though left by the one he loved and would not love him in turn, will die as well. This, after everything, still made me tear up. It's a beautiful way of parting, in more sense than one. Touzouko will die alone and in a sense, he's greeted by death through Mariku. After having contemplated Mariku's answer to death were they to gain a second life, or an afterlife.

What I also found really realistic in your story, was that you didn't portray Mariku as to be still attractive. You portrayed him as fragile, youth irretrievably lost and yet so strong, like he always has been. Beautiful. You are not afraid to break down characters and build them up again. I felt for Malik in this, you didn't show him any mercy from Mariku's side (the love) but yet that is who he is, and he can't help being. The only one he ever loved was to die by his hand because he had betrayed him.

This concept is beautiful. It hurt to read at certain points but you knew every time again to make me continue and marvel at your skills. In a way it makes me sad you haven't posted anything for a year because you write so wonderfully that I hope to read some of your own works in the future.

I loved this fic down to the very end of it. I sincerely hope you take this to heart because this, as does the rest of your fics, deserves far more attention than it has gotten so far.

wow this has got to be the first story, well maybe not the first but that is not the point the point is that you killed Bakura and Marik I think that I should feel angry because they are my favorite characters but I'm not it was a great story and the way they died was just great and I did love the ending specialy this part "Then coughed harder.

And harder.

And then he could taste it, Mariku's parting gift.

Blood.

Touzouko smiled a little. Somehow, he no longer felt quite so alone. "

you are a great writer and I loved your story

very well done

Oh my god... that was so amazing o_o SO DEPRESSING and yet SO GOOOOODDDD! Ahhhh I have an unhealthy addiction to tragedies v_v

Anyway, wonderful, truly impressive story. Deserving of my favorites list ]

And wow... that ending with Touzouko's "gift"... I can't even begin to describe how utterly perfect that was. Oh my god. Aaaaahhhhh... 3 Thank you for making a Psychoshipping fan happy! (I think there should have been more Puppyshipping though... mmmm maybe next time ;3)

-DxH

I realized something I forgot to say in my last review! (also, this is your 100th review, which makes me feel special because triple digits are cool)

I love the scene where Ryou emerges from the temple with Anubis's head. And how you manage to capture with that single image, Marik and Bakura's deaths, Malik's grief, and most of all, Ryou's loss of innocence.

Also, I loved Malik's death and how it came completely full circle with his character. From the atheism to his inability to commit suicide at the beginnig of the story, it was really powerful.

Bravo again.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. I know I'm like 7 months late in reviewing this, but I only just discovered it today. I cannot express in words my love for this fic. But here goes! All the subplots and flashbacks are so tightly woven together, all the characterizations are so spot on- if I could write like you, I'd die happy. I read the whole thing in one evening, and there were parts in the fic where I had to stop reading and walk around for a while to process what I had just read. It was that powerful. In both this, and "By Definition Evil" I was really impressed by your ability to play up the distinctions between characters whom other fic writers generally mischaracterize. Malik is a good example. There's sort of a Ryou-Malik-Marik continuum of relative darkness, and many fic writers make Malik WAY too close to one end of the continuum or the other. But your Malik was perfect.

And oh my god, the Damascus dagger was the perfect metaphor for Marik and Bakura's relationship. The way you kept working it into the story up until the very end was so expert.

I hope you haven't given up on fanfiction, and don't let a lack of reviews get you down. Most people on this site: a) Only search for pairings they like, and psychoshipping isn't nearly as popular as the yami/hikari pairings, or even thiefshipping for that matter OR b) have the IQ's of hermit crabs. This was a fabulous story, definitely of publishable quality (seriously, it's AU, just change the names or something and send it to a publisher).

My only regret is that now the other fanfic's I'm going to go read are going to look crappy by comparison.

So basically, you're a god. Peace.