>"[Lacroix alive and present in the present-day story] allowed us to see what Nick was really fighting rather than only what he perceived in his past."

:-) Continuing the theme, of course I perceive Lacroix alive and present in the present-day story as getting in the way of us seeing what Nick's really fighting, which are the ills of mankind, inside his Everyman-self as they are in all of us. :-)

This nostalgically brings to mind the first time clueless newbie me read a fanfic by an author who turned out to be the founder of the Dark Knighties. I sincerely thought the story was a tragedy, and wrote to compliment her on such a sad story. She replied, baffled, thanking me for the compliment, but sure that the story in question was happily triumphant...