hey there ! I read backbone years ago, and I truly hope I'll get to read the new version, I sometimes come back to your AO3 and this profile hoping to see it back online... I hope you're doing amazing and that one day we will get the new version 3

Nice story :)

Keep doing what you do!
-As1

I've come back to read this again after a few years and it's still managed to blow me away, especially the last few chapters. I was just looking for something to pass the time on my commute but I couldn't seem to stop reading even though I've read this before. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic story with us!

Hi, I just wanted to say that this blew me away. I was not expecting it to be as epic as it was. It defied ALL of my expectations and was really unpredictable. From my experience, I thought the army was going to be horrible, Snow and Elstrin were going to get together, and either Kana or Vel would do something bad or betray Elstrin. None of that happened and I loved everything.

The fact that you portrayed an army that didn't normalize punishment and abusive behaviors, but emphasized tolerance instead was a breath of fresh air. I also love that it's a story that doesn't give an initial pairing in the summary, and I love the variety in relationships. Elstrin's relationships with Vel, Kana, and Snow were all really interesting. Vel and Gabriel's dynamic and Snow and Gabriel's friendship and Stag and Snow...I loved reading it and getting a sense that these characters are real and have a history together prior to this story even though I know they only exist in this story. I felt like I was in a real world even if I coyldn't piece that world together fully.

Andrew's death was incredibly sad-I was shattered and really upset and affected. NOT OVER IT and it will make rereading really hard :(

I found the last part with Rem's "ressurection" to be a bit confusing because there seems to be whole other story referenced there and I was interested in the new characters but I wanted more from the original cast to be honest, because I grew yo be really attached to them. Especially Snow. The ending felt good though.

I don't think I can express my love enough without wearing my fingers down to the bone...this story made me really happy and I'm so grateful to have read it.

This is a wonderful story - I quite enjoyed it, from beginning to end. Thank you so very much for sharing it.

lol..where do we come from.. I don't know.. more importantly, where do You come from?..
..you have a peculiar style.. I am kind of used to authors scribing new ideas with each paragraph.. and I sometimes skim through.. but I can't do that here.. at some point some vital aspect of the story is mixed in some corner of the paragraph.. why do I want to skim? well .. time pressure really.. there is not too much of something like description or anything else.. and the universe in nice.. otherwise the writing is elegant, easy to follow..
..I was quickly absorbed when coming to the military base and throughout the training, the layout of the base, the style or writing, the dialogue, catchy but not flashy..
..now, my only complaint.. your story goes nowhere (?!) as far as I can tell.. (perfectly acceptable, it's your story.. but really a nice story should go somewhere).. you start with one character that has an abusive past.. ..he is not very consistent, rather blank we know he is focused and.. loyal.. he meets Kana, the much awaited roommate, an exotic specimen (Kana's presence & mystery could have been exploited to no end perhaps, like everything else you have tossed in here).. and in the end ..it is all about Snow and Rem.. and not even them.. they are too little developed.. we know too little.. they grow too little.. .. that is how I feel..
..I already said you tossed many things in the story.. that is no small thing you did.. ..it makes it interesting.. it also raises questions.. and amazingly you pulled through somehow.. you got the odd tomb, the odd Snow, the odd Kana.. the list goes on.. your story was about to go AOL.. lol.. and you managed to temper it somehow and draw some finality.. ..but the conclusion? the moral of the story? the tile?

..nice to have met your writing..

*prologue. Not 'prequel'.

This was really, really good. Like, really. Of all the slash on fictionpress, there's not much that's really good. Of all the fantasy on fictionpress, there's barely any that's really good. You win at both. I'm dying for a sequel right now (and you totally hinted at one, with all those late-breaking plot hooks!).

If there's a problem with it, it's this epilogue about Rem and Cal. Kind of came out of nowhere and was rather long, dealing with characters we know, at best, peripherally. Wasn't hugely conducive to any closure for the characters we know, right when that's basically what the reader wants emotionally. If you *are* writing a sequel, that whole sequence would work wonderfully as a prequel to it. Just felt a bit weird where it was.

I don't like how the pairings in this story worked out. The other guy usually wasn't mentioned until chapter ten and beyond. One is practically established off-screen. Just no.

*insert stream of swear words*
too incoherent to properly form sentences will be back when i get a hold of my brain again

I can't. I just. I can't. I just can't. Oh my god. I am unable to even. Just. I can't. Nope. There were too many things I love about this. So many tiny details that just make the whole thing absolute perfection. God. Wow. Like seriously. Unf. The whole thing. All of it. Just... I need some time to pick up the pieces of my brain before I can seriously even begin to think about explaining how much this whole thing in connecting with me.

DUN DUN DUHHHHHH HOT D*MN WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD AT THIS URG
as a side note this is reminding me extremely vividly why I don't read anything unfinished - the suspense would literally kill me.

F*CK. Just... F*ck. Why. Are. You. Doing. This. To. Me. ARG. I'm loving everything that's happening and all of the intrigue and the mysteries and UNF this whole thing is ripe with suspense and I hate it but I love the torturous anticipation and just f*ck. So much love for you and for this right now.

OH MY GOD HOLY CRAP THIS CHAPTER WAS EVERYTHING THAT I WISHED FOR AND MORE AHHHHHH YESSSSSSSS DELIGHTFUL. And very tastefully done! Loving it!

Holy crap and now we get Gabriel's perspective too? WOWOWOW okay so I kinda love Rem rright now. Not sure what he is, but I don't care! I kind of have a soft spot for awesome kids and he seems like one.