Wow, this was a really good read. Great stuff.

Guess they found the maid.

Oh my goodness, this has to be in my top three favorite fics. This was so well written and the story was so multifaceted, it was great! Loved this so much ️

I haven’t visited ffviii fandom for quite some time. Every now and then I do check back here for story updates and I stumbled across this little gem, and found that I could not tear myself away! I laughed, I cried, I had warm fuzzy feelings over Seifer and Squall’s friendship, and I was reminded of some of the many reasons why I had fallen in love, all those years ago, with this fandom in the first place.

Thank you for that.

sulou

Thanks!

Love this story! I've read it I think like, three or four times. I really love all of the ideas that you put into this! Keep up the good work, two of my favorite stories are written by you!

~ Ayu ( )

I discovered this fanfiction on a whim yesterday, and have basically done nothing but read (or even think about this story). Seldom do I even read fanfiction, but I just felt like picking up some headcannons about Squall and Rinoa (they are my most favorite fictional couple, and Squall has always been my favorite protagonist). I am so happy having read this fic, and am excited to make my way through the rest of the stories on siobhane's page.

The story is super well thought out, and the voices given to the characters are superb. I love Squall and Rinoa's LONGING and the fact they are simply DRAWN towards eachother. The battle scenes are also crazy well written, and I felt like they followed how the fights would look in real time. I couldn't get over the use of in game universe shit. Almost everything about this fic has really delighted my imagination, and sensibilities about the game.

Most notably, I felt flat out giddy when Squall and Rinoa would embrace but ESPECIALLY when they dressed up like they did in youth. OH GOD IT WAS SO GREAT

I am very sad to see that siobhane is on a permanent hiatus, and would say that that fact is the saddest part of my experience reading this. to find such a wonderful story written by hopefully my favorite fanfic author, only to discover there is a finite amount of work to read.

It was such a wonderful story I literally stayed up for hours past when I was suppose to sleep just to keep reading.
I wish selphie and Irvine had played a larger role in the story, but I'm sure with selphies destructive tendencies something would have exploded so I guess it's for the best.
You're such a wonderful writer and you've given me inspiration to finish my own story once again. So thanks!

Skipping to the end for a final review since I've already exploded your inbox enough as it is (and sorry for that-I should have been reviewing as I went along, but once I skipped forward one chapter swearing I'd go back, I ended up reading another chapter...then another...and I have no self control), but obviously, I love this. I tend to prefer stories that subvert tropes, but this is one of the rare stories that utilizes a lot of them (Garden being-at least in part-responsible for their separation, a villain after Rinoa because of-amongst other things-her power), and manages to do so in a way that's so fresh and raw it's like it's the first time they've ever been done. And I think more than anything it's the smaller ways you kept everyone in character-Rinoa still being, despite everything else, strong, somewhat rebellious, and utterly dedicated to improving the lives of people around her. Seifer's sense of humor. The root of Squall's problems being his vulnerability, rather than his inability to experience emotions. And Squall as a dad...you just do SUCH A GOOD JOB WITH THAT PLEASE KEEP DOING IT FOREVER.

I grinned the entire way through the wedding, but I think my favorite part of the entire ending was Lily sleeping in Squall's arms at the reception. The visual of that stuck out so much and gave me so many damn feels. And even though I could see where things were going-that Rinoa would be released and would make the wedding-the WAY it played out still had me grinning from ear to ear.

For as much as I love darkness and angst, I'm so glad this had a happy ending. irishais and I used to talk about how it's hard to really imagine a happy ending for these two, just because of what they are, but I just love everything about this. So many good and happy feels. This story definitely left me in a 'book hangover' sort of thing, and I nearly made Billy read it immediately just so I'd have someone to flail about it with.

I wondered what was coming, what with the number of chapters still remaining...

I'm not sure how I feel about Florian's motivations. It seems...selfless to an unrealistic degree to be willing to risk losing her to Squall just to make her happy, but I suppose for man with a loss of his own he'll never get over, it makes sense.

And YES to them finally getting out all of that tension!

I somehow missed reading the last half of this the first time! I think I got to the end when they're watching the house burn and had to go back to work/kids/whatever, and must have assumed I'd finished the chapter, because this was my first time reading everything that came after, and I'm so glad I did! I didn't exactly question Seifer and Quistis getting back together-kind of saw that coming, I figured it must have just happened off-stage, and I assumed I missed the explanation about the secret apartment while I was nearly speed-reading through the last couple of chapters because I was so on edge I couldn't risk having to walk away in the middle of everything that was going on.

I'm so, SO glad I semi-knew about Lily's scene in advance, from you mentioning having written a scene from a 9yo's point of view, since that did allow at least a little bit of help following the last cliffhanger. You did brilliantly with it, but oh, my heart. I have to wonder at what her relationship with Quistis will be like in the years to come, since she watched Quistis literally bring Squall back from the dead. I just feel for her so much. I was telling my husband yesterday, after seeing a bunch of stories from 911 dispatchers, that if anything brings me to tears faster than stories of parents finding their dead children, it's children having to find their dead parents, and my heart just hurts for Lily so much. On top of losing both of her parents already, having to watch Squall get shot, and then she had to kill someone, and then she found Squall dead... That whole scene took it out of me.

And of course the Rinoa stuff is wonderful. As you know, dark!Squinoa gives me great joy in this fandom, and I long for well-written stories of her snapping, and what better impetus for that than Squall's death (no matter how short-lived it was?).

I know there are a million things I've forgotten to say about everything (including how much I love Blaise!), but it's because this is just so good there really aren't words for it.

If there is one benefit to reading something after it's been completed, it's that when there are chapter endings like this I can immediately click 'next,' instead of having to spend the time in between updates reminding myself to breathe. This is a hell of a cliffhanger!

(And on a note at equally stole my breath away, but for much better reasons...oh man, their entrance. There are so many beautiful visuals in this chapter, but Squall and Rinoa's entrance is gorgeous, and the chemistry between them jumps right out and threatens to overwhelm.)

Bless Quistis for being so blunt with Seifer, and bless you for the reasons why.

I love the conversations between Squall and Rinoa regarding the deterioration of their relationship, particularly for the honest. Those conversations are so hard to have, but so necessary. Her asking about being a brat and him answers is one of my favorite exchanges of dialogue in this entire story so far, just because of how quietly true to life it is.

Things that made me laugh: Madge the Vadge, and the conversation about Rinoa's sex life. I think I feel the worst for Zell in that conversation! It's awkward for everyone, but he's the only one with NO history with her, having to listen to her talk about this, in front of two of her ex-boyfriends.

I absolutely did not not see where you were going with the costumes. I was expecting like, Fairy Tale type Sorceress/Knight costumes, but their old clothes is just brilliant!

Another multi-chapter review: I love Zell in this so much. Especially as such a contrast to the Zell in DCC. There are so many similarities, but I love actually getting to see him happy. It's like a parallel universe, but it's wonderful.

You've done a wonderful job this whole story of building suspense around the plot on Rinoa's life (and as I'm skimming through to make sure I didn't miss anything I want to comment on/am pairing reviews to the right chapters I'm really impressed with the foreshadowing that's layered in-Lilly's dream, Lacey's comment about "the nicest Sorceress I've met"), but this chapter is the one where I felt myself finally truly invested in that as much as in seeing Squall and Rinoa's interactions/wondering when they would stop fighting it. It's just so complex, and there are so many players. I really WANT to like Florian, especially after this, but liking him means being at peace with a good character potentially having his heart broken. But then if he knew that would happen, do I really feel bad for him?

It pleases me endlessly that there are multiple Sorceresses. Somehow it's become almost fanon that there's only one at at time, even though in the game more than one existed at a time, and the info center says no one knows how many there are at once. So I really like that acknowledgment here-and the note about the succession often passing between female family members. (And about the bond being permanent! The feels!)

And speaking of feels... ALL THE FEELS for pretty much every scene with Lily. She's just such a wonderful character, but that scene with them at dinner kills me. I don't want to wait until the end of the story for them to be a happy family, I want it NOW, because of scenes like that!

Multi chapter review: I love all of the references to other literature. Allusions and epigraphs give me life, and the religious imagery is wonderful.

Lily’s surliness is both frustrating and heartbreaking to read. Kids can be so difficult, but when they aren’t *your* kids it’s so much easier to see where their attitudes are coming from emotions they’re having trouble expressing. *hugs her forever* My own parental instincts make me rage a lot at Lily’s stupid school, but swoon over Squall’s protectiveness. Good for Squall for not tolerating it and pulling her out, instead of trying to find a way to help her get through. *glares at the school faculty* (Also the three girls attacking Lily set against the three catty housewives being mean to Rinoa is nice symmetry)

Zell and Seifer’s banter is HILARIOUS.

And yesssss to some action, but nooooo to Squall’s stupid morals. And to Ian the enigma, who I semi feel sorry for and also semi hope is a bad person after all so I don’t have to feel bad for him. But mostly… Feels. So, so, so many feels. I know fic exploring the ways this bond manifests is done to the point of being overdone, but really, we wouldn’t be in this fandom if we didn’t love seeing it happen over and over and over again, and watching them want each other so badly just hurts.