I had to take a few days to decide how I wanted to review this. That's how much of an impact it had.
Firsdt off, as a writer you are amazing. The story itself was amazing, even if it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Just the content was so. dark (yeah, you warned me and I went in expecting it). It had me shuddering, and a few times I got that sick feeling in my stomach. Oh, and the end had me in tears (that's nearly impossible to do).
All of that just shows how powerful your wirting is.
I don't know if I can truly say that I 'enjoyed' this story, but it was powerful and well worth the read.
Now excuse me while I go read some shamless fluff to make the depression go away.

Author's Response: Hi Niori Thank you for taking the plunge and reading this story. It is by far the darkest thing I have written (and that's saying something! LOL) I really appreciate you saying that it is powerful and that my writing is good. I'm not really sure where this one came from. *Note to self not to use an evil twin prompt again* : D I hope you will try my other fics. I have Tracker on here and will be posting a sequel to it called Tracked Down from Monday. I think these stories are probably the best writing that I have done. Most have my stories have dark themes, but none are so bleak as this one. Some are funny in a kind of twisted way and I have some Spangel fics on my lj that are pretty light! :D My lj addy is on the profile if you want to read non Spuffy. Thanks again for taking the trouble to review. I really do appreciate it.

seriously twisted, maybe for a sequel Dawn could bite the heads off some puppies. Only kidding, probably too tame, best I could come up with at short notice. Anyway, I was warned but I thought 'How bad can it be?' Answer, bad. Thank you for an entertaining hour.

Author's Response: LOL! Yes, the Dawn thing does sound a little tame! Maybe try Good Job, Spike - it might give you a bit better exeperience. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to comment. I do appreciate it.

i've read the fic from 1-7 now and i have to say you are a great writter. i think i may have been desensatized sometime before reading this fic as i didnt really get squicked out by it after your warnings. i definitly felt for spike due to your writting ability and im glad you gave both spike a well deserved ending, i'd have been disapointed with a happy ending.

i actually cant wait to read more of your writting after this.

well done.

Author's Response: Thank you so very much for such lovely and encouraging comments. I must admit that I was surprised at the number of people commenting on how dark it was when I thought I did a good job of warning them exactly what the content would be. I felt that there was no way a happy ending could be conjured up out of what had happened and so I'm glad that you thought that it fit. I have two other stories on here - Goodbye, Spike - dark and Good Job, Spike - bit twisted but I think a bit funny too! LOL For all my other work check out my lj spikes-evilbint.livejournal.com. Got lots on there - but mostly slashy. I especially like Concentrate, Spike and Gulity As Charged. And the novel length The Birthday Present :) If you read I'd love to know what you think.

Okay I really couldn't stomach a lot of what you wrote. I read chapters 1-5 (painfully closing my eyes at times) and skipped right to chapter 7, eager to see what the conclusion was for this fic.

I think the ending was VERY appropriate. Though it is difficult for most authors to write sad endings, I think that it's unrealistic to expect one, even if the entire story has lead to nothing but a sad ending. I commend you for your outstanding ability to conclude such a dark story in such a bittersweet way.

Though I will probably never read anything else of yours (my apologies but it's not quite my cup of tea. xD) I do want to say that regardless of some of the nasty reviews you have received, you should feel nothing but proud. Some people feel the need to be completely rude, even when they have no business to. Ignore them and continue writing. It may not be MY style but that doesn't mean its good. Cuz it sure as hell is.

Disturbing work, but OUTSTANDING.

Author's Response: Thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it. This is the darkest thing I have written and I don't think I'll delve that deep again! LOL! The muse went a little crazy when I saw the evil twin prompt on nekid_spike. Chapter six wasn't at all gruesome so go back and read if you skipped it! Hee! I totally understand that you don't want to read more of my work - it isn't for everybody - like I can't read het porn - but if you're not adverse to a bit of Spander try Concentrate, Spike on my lj - Angel helps ghost!Spike with a bit of a problem! Not dark at all! Thank you once again for being so supportive. I'm planning a lighter fic so maybe take a look at that when I post ? If anything I post here is dark I will label accordingly like I did this one :D

Oh, that's so sad!!! If only Buffy had got there a little sooner, or slit her wrist and made him drink. :(

That was very dark, but well done.

Author's Response: Thank you very much. It had to end with dust but I wanted it not to be Spike's decision. TwinSpike essentially murdered him. Thanks again for giving the story a chance and for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.

That was certainly a very intense story. It may be sad to say but I think this is the first time I've wanted Spike to be dusted. He had been put through so much and I don't think he would have ever recovered. He was in so much emotional and mental pain and being such a strong vampire before, he just wouldn't have been able to stomach being weak, pathetic, afraid Spike.

I did have some trouble with EvilSpike and his behaviour towards Spike - not really understanding it. I don't see why he would act that way, torturing Spike. We see in the Angel series that Spike had to get someone else do the torturing for him as he didn't seem to have the stomach for it or perhaps the 'hard-core' evil for it - unlike Angelus.

Thanks for your story.

Author's Response: Thank you for reading and for your comments. I wrote the story for the evil twin prompt on nekid_spike the lj comm. So TwinSpike had to be bad through and through. He might have looked like Spike but as we saw he most definately wasn't like the Spike we've seen before. Real Spike had that evil in him years before though otherwise he wouldn't have earned his reputation in the Watcher's Diaries - Angel also warned them of how Spike could be in School Hard :) I have read a lot of dark stories that somehow manage to conjure up a happy end (written them myself too! LOL) but like you said - Spike was too broken to be whole again in this story. Please check out my lj for my other stories - a couple of Spangel are actually quite funny! Hee!