I love the mystery that you've been slowly unfolding with Vincent's past here! Not gonna lie, I didn't get Vincent on my playthrough, but now I'm tempted to go back and do so. I just - AAAAAHHHHH MY SOUL IS SOFT FOR THESE TWO

Cid actually cares about Vincent so much and I am HERE for it AAAAA-

Are you a published author? Because I would read your books, no joke.

Awww, Cid and Vinny got inside jokes now! That's so precious oml

I cannot properly explain how much I love this fic. I was actually rambling about it last night to Mom about how good it was.

I think one of the best things about this fic is the development of Cid and Vincent's relationship, and it shows here.

Wow, that was intense the whole way through! I love your explanation of the bugs and their screaming. I love this fic sO MUCH-

Can I just say my smol baby heart feels so bad for Vincent and I wanna hug him so badly aaaaaa

I am utterly in LOVE with this fic, I am not gonna lie. You have a writing style like in actual published novels, you're that good!

I was reading this fic all night and forgot to review it, so I'm just gonna review the five chapters I finished all at once.

I love how you wrote Dio and the Battle Arena! I personally bowed out of it about 3 battles in to get the Keystone, but I love Cloud thinking he could take them all on and getting whooped. It feels very in-character to him.

The way you've been writing Cid and Vincent's slow-burn relationship is amazing, and I squeal like a little baby every time they get somewhere new. Keep at it!

Yuffie trying to eat Vincent's food is a mood XD

Loving this the whole way through!

I know how late I am to the party, but I just finished the first 3 chapters and AAAAA I love it so much! I love your writing style and how you write Cid! This is definitely gonna be a fic I'm reading all the way through!

This. was so. epic. It captured me like nothing ever before. I laughed. I cried. I'm just... I'm going to re-read this immediately.

Fourth or fifth time reading through beginning to end and Journey is still one of my favorite FFVII stories out there. Not just for the valenwind, but just Vincent, Cid and the rest of the characters you've written so well. I haven't been able to find you on AO3 though? I have admittedly stalked your DevArt profile and thoroughly drooled over your art...eheh ;) I would love to see a sequel or even just some mini story arcs featuring post-Journey Vince, Cid and Avalanche. I also have a weakness for Vincent and Marlene interacting and would love to see you write their meeting. The way she ran to him in AC spoke of familiarity and sparked my imagination into a frenzy of "adorableness vs. tall, dark and gloomy", the victor being obvious, lmao.

I remember reading this when it was being written. It inspired me to write and to keep writing and even now, reading it again two, almost three, years later, it's still basically the best thing I've ever read. So props to you! Thanks for the inspiration, the laughter, and the tears. I'mma keep reading now because, y'know, cid Highwind and all ;)

great story! my first 'valewind', and it's epic.!
the first chapters flew by and you had me hooked on their journey.
i got caught up in cid's character and couldn't stop reading, i just love the way you built up everything.
cid's attraction, how you wrote vincent(and his 'living' cape), yuffie - who is very recognizable as a teenager, i could go on and on , the characterization and your plot are simply perfect.
like i said, great story! thank you for sharing! :-)

I think this is one of the best retellings of canon I've ever read for FF7! There's such a hard balance to find between putting in too much detail from the actual canon and leaving things out to make it flow better as a written narrative but you really pulled it off amazingly. And the way you describe the journey with a much more realistic tone, including the weather and the consequences of risky battles and the ways that the group would have to actually navigate the terrain, is really refreshing to me. Especially because it kind of drives home the differences between the characters' physical capabilities and tolerances that are easy to forget about in light of game mechanics that basically smooth everyone into a uniform fighting machine. Plus the ever-present problem of who was there to see this happen and who had to hear about it second-hand or who never knew because they joined later is used so well to develop Cid's understanding of Vincent, like I was just blown away.
Cid's characterization was honestly amazing and I love the way you put so much detail into the Highwind and her crew and his relationship with them (I love that you gave the poor beleaguered pilot a name and actual interaction with Cid!). The first time I played FF7 I was so surprised by the segments where Tifa and then Cid step up as leader/decision-maker but I think they're honestly some of the best parts of the game in terms of characterization and you really fleshed out the behind the scenes details that get skipped over in the POV transitions. Plus Cid's attitude to leadership really rang true to me as part of his character; that and how he relates to Rocket Town and his past as a Shinra pilot were really interesting parts for me, and I like the way you depicted the relationship between him and Shera as well as his recognition of how he fucked up there.
And of course, the romance was honestly so good. As much as I love a good relationship reveal fic, I appreciate the understated way that their partnership remains fairly ambiguous to the rest of AVALANCHE even though they're not ashamed of it or really actively concealing it. Ditto to the way in which Cid tries to engage with Vincent without really pushing over any boundaries and making it clear to Vincent that he can both enforce boundaries and reach out to Cid in return. (And it's really nice to read a fic that doesn't either demonize Lucrecia or paint her as a perfect mother who did no wrong.)
Honestly, one of my fave things about this fic is the way you managed to write so much but still leave things unsaid in a way that just makes me want to think about all the other little things going on in the background (like what Shera and Barret's faces will look like when Cid suddenly returns from the garden with Vincent, both of them very obviously disheveled). I spent an amazing chunk of my day just reading through this once and I'm sure I'll come back to it again in the future to laugh at my favorite bits and discover all the nuances I probably missed the first time around.
Thank you for writing this. 3

this is probably the best valenwind fic and possibly one of the best ff7 fics out there 3
so big thank you for being awesome and writing and posting!