Hello everyone, and welcome back (or greetings to new readers). In 2018, I created a Q&A Chapter in celebration of the story's 5th anniversary. For returning readers, I once again revised the story for its submission to the AO3 site, cleaning up characterizations and storytelling, and added in a chapter to separate the first and second arcs of the story.

And without further ado, the Q&A Session begins. Thank you to those who submitted questions.

Which chapter was added? I saw there was an update despite this story being "complete".

See Extra Chapter: Of Soldiers and Shepherds, following chapter 9, separating the first and second arc. It's a decent length chapter, and was a joy to write something new for this story after a long while. I don't plan on adding more chapters, however.

It says the story came out in May 2014. How is this the 5th anniversary edition? (Question was asked in May 2018)

My first draft was originally written in 2013, but then scrapped and rewritten in 2014. I only had the first six chapters written, then they were redone, and I went on a really long hiatus which I deeply regret. I started writing again more frequently in early 2017 and finally finished the story in 2018, and honestly I didn't plan for anyone to read it. Fire Emblem: Awakening's heyday had passed almost half a decade ago, and subsequently the popularity has died down. Not to mention the fact that crossovers are rarely read, and this one in particular was revived seemingly out of nowhere. I was content with just finishing the story, simply because it personally nagged me that I never finished, and to create some closure within my mind, I continued to write.

I don't understand Chapter 27's beginning. What was that?

It was a complete parallel to the prologue of the story, showing in greater detail (and more accuracy) on the events which led Cloud to the tornado which ultimately drew him into the Outrealm portal and setting in motion the events of the story. In addition, it reveals that Sephiroth who appeared in the prologue as well as Chapter 24 wasn't really him, rather a Risen version of the One-Winged Angel brought by Grima who was summoning undead through the Outrealm gate.

When does the story take place during the Final Fantasy VII timeline?

The story takes place right before Advent Children. This is why Cloud has Geostigma as well as his Fusion Swords and Fenrir, which I don't believe were ever stated how he got them.

Why does Cloud have Geostigma and where did it go during the events of the story?

It was stated in On the Way to Smile: Case of Yuffie that Geostigma particularly affects the weak-willed, hence Cloud's depressed state. Cloud's genes containing JENOVA cells made him especially susceptible to the virus, but his will to survive and the fact that he is no longer connected to Sephiroth (who was affecting the world with Geostigma through the remnants in the Lifestream) meant that he was pretty much unaffected by the virus throughout the course of the story.

How did Cloud lose his memories in the beginning of the story?

It was hinted that pulling people between dimensions can affect memories. Throughout the story, only Risen have been pulled through the Outrealm Portal, which is why their memories remain unaffected. Cloud didn't lose everything in his brain, however, only the painful parts: the Nibelheim incident, losing Zack, Aerith's death and the natural events of Final Fantasy VII. This is also why he lost his ability to access LIMIT, until later in the story.

Why did Aerith hide her death from Cloud? She retained all of her memories, after all...

It would be cruel to make him remember, and the time didn't call for it. Aerith was watching over Cloud even after her death, this was evident in Advent Children, so she especially saw him suffer through depression, more than anyone else.

How did Zack appear in Chapter 27?

Grima, as we can see on the final chapter of Awakening, was summoning all of the Grimleal onto the Fell Dragon's back in an effort to stop the advance of the Shepherds. I felt that it would be quite fitting if another Outrealm Risen decided to take place at this momentous event, and thus, I had Zack appear, who would be the only logical person beside Aerith to bring Cloud back to his senses.

What are the Outrealm Risen knights anyways?

Leading off the core idea of the story, where Grima summons Risen from the undead from dimensions through the Outrealm born the idea that he would take some of the most powerful undead to complete his goal. This is why Sephiroth was 'summoned' and eventually was revealed back in Chapter 24, and Cloud was accidentally brought in, despite whatever Grima about lied to him in Chapter 27.

The Outrealm Risen Knights piggyback off this idea to create a real sense of dread throughout the story with the inclusion of an actual threat to Cloud (who was pretty much unstoppable until that point in the story). Each Outrealm Risen is based off a key undead from the original Dark Souls, where I actually drew much inspiration from when writing the story's combat sequences. The first Outrealm Risen Knight, donning a blue tunic traditional knight armor is Oscar of Astora. The second Risen Knight, with the onion armor was Siegmeyer of Catarina (but he's using the Stormruler. I didn't plan for him to be Siegward from DS3). The third Risen Knight, holding the huge greatsword was Black Iron Tarkus. Finally, the lightning-wielding crusader knight was none other than Solaire of Astora.

What is with the characterization of X character? Don't you think they're acting a bit OOC?

Yes, and I can see the biggest offender of this as Robin, who I took the most creative liberties with. I personally felt that, while his character was fine in the original Fire Emblem: Awakening, I wanted to make his character more human and memorable, which is why I gave him the oblivious and carefree personality which contrasted Cloud's stoic and serious personality which remained constant throughout the story. Another person who's character I changed was Lucina. I've heard a lot of criticism about her from the original game, where she was especially labeled as boring in comparison to the rest of the lively cast, so I deemed it was necessary to give her a little bit more life with a mischievous and teasing personality, but overall I didn't want to change much with her, as she, unlike Robin wasn't the My Unit character of the game.

How did you do the dialogue of the story?

I actually did much of the dialogue as closely as I could to the original game, actually playing alongside while writing. I also wrote each battle tactic of each chapter using the strategy I had approached the respective chapter with, which was admittedly very challenging as I followed alongside with a playthrough of Awakening on Lunatic Classic mode.

What happened to everyone back in the Final Fantasy VII universe? Did Cloud just leave them for dead in the two years he was gone?

This one I don't want to give a definite answer to. Maybe I'll answer it at a later time?

Is Noire actually Robin's daughter?

I wont answer this one either, sorry. Leave this one up to your imagination.

Favorite chapter to write?

It's tough to say, but I'm going to have to go with Chapter 24: In Time. It truly felt like a culmination of everything that was happening to Cloud and a place where I could truly get Cloud's struggle throughout the story finalized into once chapter. I felt it had the most of what I loved about Cloud's character, and his initial death was one of the best examples of a time I was truly invested in writing.

Another great chapter in my opinion was Chapter 27: Rising Again, which was inevitably the climax of the entire story. I enjoyed this one similarly because of the intensity of the writing. It really felt like the pieces I had put in place for the entire story was coming together for one chapter, and I got goosebumps as I finally revealed the meaning of the title of the story. Surprisingly, the Extra Chapter: Of Soldiers and Shepherds was, in my opinion, a delicately written chapter in hindsight. I had originally only planned a short chapter to better separate the two year time skip between the first and second arcs of the story, but, thematically, was one of the greatest representation of the main characters of the story.

Why did Aerith and Zack disappear at the end of the story, but not the revived Shepherds and other Risen?

To quote Cloud in the story: "Aerith is not God."

One of the major themes of the story is the idea of inevitable fate. As much as each character struggles to change it (Cloud especially changes it the most just by existing), things ultimately fall back into place, which is why it eventually still follows the regular course of Fire Emblem: Awakening. As Lucina mentions in Chapter 20, the Shepherds who were killed were not fated to die, and Aerith's Great Gospel, which caused the mass-revival in Chapter 27 wasn't really an all-powerful cheat death "magic", because then what would be the point of death if Aerith could just revive everyone? The idea of it was that Great Gospel merely fixed fate back into its original course.

The Shepherds who were not supposed to die were revived, and Cloud especially wasn't supposed to die because he was only brought into that world by accident, so he was revived for good too. Aerith and Zack who were each dead prior to the events of the story obviously can't be revived through a reversal of fate, but they were given some temporary life until ultimately, they would fade back into dust. Keeping Aerith and Zack alive, I felt, would effectively undermine the development and themes of Cloud as a character. Zack and Aerith are the true heroes of Final Fantasy VII, and the beauty of Cloud's character is that, despite everything, he was never meant to be the hero, but rather the embodiment of the heroes' legacies.

Any plans for the future? Perhaps a sequel?

I had a few things planned, but I've spent the last year in the military, making me busier than ever. I've been trying to write here and there, but the best I could do in my free time was make some revisions. I would love to continue a sequel, but I can't make any promises.

Anyways, thank you again for reading. If you have more questions, PM me and I'll probably answer it there.

Until next time!