Ouch! seriously, ouch!

This was so realistic emotionally, espcially knowing John. It's almost like the scene at the end of Forrest Gump where Forrest is bidding Jenny farewell despite his eternal love. John here has the same impression, but knows that Sherlock would want him to move on with is life.

A man so accustomed to death suddenly losing a man he was fond of... heart-breaking *sniff* okay, I'm calm now. Allow me to curl up into a ball of sadness.

Very touching fic. I love how you discover how much time has actually passed later on and not straight away! I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing it.

Warning: Fandom Blind

Oooh, this was emotional, if not a little cliche, and since I'm such a sucker for cliche death of friend scenes, I liked it. And oh, this is the 20th review! YAY! I do believe you've graduated the archive!

So, this would have been exceptionally amazing, but I have to say that it did get a little choppy at times. Otherwise, I think that you really must have understood the man named John on an emotional level, maybe not Sherlock as much.

I think your endng in particular was really powerful, as John looks back on this life with Sherlock, and he is alsi reflecting on aging. I also liked your last line especially, it made me think that John was not really alone, he had his memories of his friend, both good and bad.

Overall, I really liked it. The nologostia was very well done. Excellent job!

It's so sad how you've portrayed his loneliness in the first line. He visits the grave alone, and his apparent grief implies that he's lonely without Sherlock by his side. The way he can only just make out his reflection makes me think he feels like there's not much of himself left without Sherlock, like part of himself died with him.

I found this line really effective: [He closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself.] I really love it, since there's so much emotion in it, and it shows so well how he's trying to get himself together because he probably finds it hard to talk to his dead friend. It was such a touching part of the story. :) I really like how he's reflected somewhat positively on his past with Sherlock, as he thinks that he's a 'miracle' and the 'greatest friend a man could hope for.' That part was so sweet. :)

I like how he seems to straighten up when he thinks of Sherlock as well, as if Sherlock makes him feel not just emotionally better when he remembers their good times, but maybe even physically better as well. :) I love how you've descibed once-vibrant colours now becoming very gloomy, as if to match his personality since the death of Sherlock.

Great work!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here is my critique and/or some suggestions for you. :)

. (John took a long time going up the steps of flat 221b.) I think that, instead of putting it this way, you could describe his slow movements up the stairs instead. :)
[ John staggered up the steps of flat 221b.]

. (unto his chair) I feel that 'into' would go better here, rather than 'unto'. :)

. (The old doctor smiled, to the empty flat.) I feel this sentence may flow better as: [The old doctor smiled towards the empty flat.]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excellent work! Keep up the good work. :)

A lovely piece. I particularly liked how you continued to bring in details to remind us of Watson's old age. I think it made the piece more poignant to have the steady reminder of how much time had passed since their 'glory days'. Some particular vivid examples of that was Watson returning to the same flat they'd shared, but it took him a long time to get up the steps, and how he's remembering Sherlock one instant and then falling asleep abruptly the next (as old people tend to do). Having Watson wake up to the sound of a violin playing was a really good choice to close off the piece. It was a beautiful way to evoke Sherlock's enduring presence in John's memory. Nicely done.

Aww, such a despairing yet joyous little drabble you've managed to written!

I feel for Watson. Seeing his old buddy and sidekick dead is not a good thing for him, or for anyone. You did a great job in capturing what Watson would say to Sherlock, and the vivid images of his body being much older made me think about the person that Watson once was. It must have been pretty lonely living in that flat for the past few decades...

And daww, Watson loves Sherlock; probably not that kind of love, but more of a brotherly/friendly love that is still real to this day!

In terms of SPAG, I spotted no mistakes while reading, so excellent job with that! Once again, I loved reading this one-shot! :)

I really enjoyed this short piece about friendship and how one deals with the loss of a friend. A few of the lines I especially liked were:

((John took a long time going up the steps of flat 221b. At the top, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The man that stared back was a man well into his eighties, who was once blonde but now had gone grey. Tired blue eyes blinked at the almost foreign reflection. The old veteran moved into the sitting room and slumped unto his chair. For over forty years, he and Sherlock had shared this flat while solving crime. Sherlock had died once, and he had died once again. With that thought, John fell asleep in his chair.))-I just loved this passage for the representation of time in both age (Watson's) and years (calendar). You bridge the gap of both by having John reminiscing about his years with Sherlock, and in showing us how exactly those years are weighing physically on John at this point in time. I especially loved the end line about Watson falling asleep in the chair, that was just a warm reminder of how my grandfather would do the same as he was sitting and watching television.

((In the middle of the night, John woke to the sound of a violin playing.))-this was beautiful. I felt that this line was the top line of the whole piece simply because it interweaves just how memories can linger and come to us in those moments when we are between awake and asleep. It also signifies how closely tied Watson and Sherlock are, that upon awakening, the first thing John hears is the violin playing. It reminds me in a way of the final scene in Titanic, where Rose awakens after dying aboard the science vessel aboard the Titanic and is joined by Jack and the others who had been on the doomed liner. I want to take this line and imagine that that is what happened but I think that stretches the imagination a bit far.

A couple of minute criticisms and observations:

((And I have seen miracles, Sherlock, and you were one of them))-Just a minor suggestion here, but how about twisting the line like this? ((And I have seen miracles, Sherlock. And you? You were definitely the grandest miracle of them all.)) I feel that a few small changes conveys what I think you are striving for in the entire piece: a friend telling their lost friend about the effect they had upon their life, and upon the world as well.

((I have seen a lot of death, since that time))- I would lose the comma. With it, it suggests a pause that I don't think is needed. Same here: ((smiled into the darkness of the empty flat))-the comma is not really needed and I think the line just needs a little smoothing to hit the final mark that the rest of the line hits upon.

((saluted the grace of the))-I'm thinking that you meant grave here? Though grace could apply in the contextual sense of his saluting the man for being who he was, but I don't believe you mean that. Feel freeto correct me if I am wrong :)

In all, I really enjoyed this piece for what it was-a friend visiting the grave of a friend to share words with him in death as he would have done in life. Amazing job :)

oh, i like this :)

i like the reference to rechienbach here, and the way that John knows better than to ask for a miracle this time.
This John is not only so much older and more mature, I like to think he also /knows/ that Sherlock is dead, unlike in Rechienbach where there was a possibility of something different.

The ending was gorgeous :)
I like the fact that even though John refrained from asking for another miracle, he somehow received it all the same.

A lovely fic.
Well done! :3

This was amazing. I love how this references Reinenbach, and I love that this is John's perspective. Admittedly, this was a sad piece, but John is obviously an old man now, and it seems to me this one has closure. I do love that John says that he will not ask Sherlock to not be dead because the last time he did that, he was younger, less mature...and perhaps a bit naive. I also love that he tells Sherlock how he feels about him. That was extremely sweet and touching. The ending was quite intriguing. Is it really that Sherlock isn't dead, is John imagining things, or is Sherlock's spirit haunting the place? I love how you leave it up to the reader for that...but I honestly am not sure which I'm choosing yet. Despite that, though, I really enjoyed this.

A few things:

I miss you." John Watson whispered, clutching his cane.- I miss you," John Watson whispered, clutching his cane.

The old doctor smiled, to the empty flat.-It seems to me this comma isn't needed.

Overall, a lovely piece. Well done. :)

Anything that has to do with Sherlock’s death immediately makes me sad. I love that John’s using his cane. I think that says a lot about his mental state in a way. Despite being older, I think it’s a bit of an emotional thing with him and why he uses it. It’s sad that he’s still asking, in a way, for Sherlock not to be dead. I think the ending is my favorite part. Just the fact the violin is playing is something that automatically makes me misty eyed. It’s a sweet sentiment that really hits the feels. This is a really lovely piece. Nice job.

Hmm, an interesting little piece. I like how you flipped my expectations. At first I thought this was post-jump, perhaps not long after the ending scene we got in the last episode. You did a good job of playing with my expectations and my emotions. Because of what I assumed, I didn't feel too sad knowing that he wasn't actually dead. When I reached the end, however, and realized that this is a much older John with an actually deceased Sherlock, it made the proceeding parts all that much more powerful. You captured some of the feelings of being a survivor - the denial, the depression, the acceptance - without actually going through all the stages or describing it all. It's a very neat little trick.

One thing: I don't quite understand the significance of "Ripple" at the beginning. Was it suppose to be a title that got changed? The lack of context or punctuation doesn't quite work here.

Good job!

I'm almost certain I read this before, but somehow I didn't review it. It's SOTW at the RLt for this week, so I guess this is a good time to review it! :)

This is really very beautiful. I feel like I'm grasping about for something insightful to say, but it's just so beautiful I'm having trouble finding the words.

The parallels of Sherlock's first and 2nd deaths work really well. I think the contrast works really well too, because the death of an old man is sad, but not in the same way the death of a young person is - everyone has to die sometime, but it's better to die after a good, long life rather than a very short one. I think that's the main reason John is able to accept it this time. If that makes sense.

The last line is just gorgeous. It's sort of bitter sweet.

It's sad that John has to outlive his best friend, but I can't help but thinking that it's better this way than if Sherlock were to outlive John. I just don't think Sherlock would be able to accept John's death and deal with his grief as well as John is able to deal with his. He really does have issues with change to routine and such, as John and Lestrade were pointing out in 'Baskerville,' saying it was an Aspergers thing.

Anyway, your fic really made me feel a lot of things and it also made me think (once I'd recovered enough to actually form coherent thoughts), so that's a really good thing. Thanks so much for writing this and sharing it with the world. :)

Oh, this was really wonderfully written. The description was so heartfelt. I loved John's monologue to the grave, and we could really sense his emotion through his voice, his pauses, everything. The descriptions of himself and his surroundings were very good as well. The closure with the violin was a great idea. I really loved it!

Oh, my heart...

For me, I knew that this was going to promising when you mentioned that John was using the cane. It really showed just how much time had gone by and drew me into the piece. I loved the contrast between the young John and the old John; he's still recognizable, but he's very different. And that's not a bad thing.

"Sherlock had died once, and he had died once again" Undoubtedly my favorite line. So poignant and so beautiful...

Tiniest of nitpicks: "...I miss you." should have a comma instead of a period

I really enjoyed this. Well done!

Cheers, dearie!