Wow! Just, wow! I know you wrote this awhile back ago, but I couldn’t help from commenting on it.

You packed SO much into the 31 chapters and even though I knew where the story had went I couldn’t help the anticipation and excitement I had felt for each and every chapter that followed!

I really wish your story was canon and I almost want to accept this as the true story as opposed to the actual one. You can really put some great thoughts and feelings down on paper and describe moments and scenes perfectly. I could literally picture every reaction and the way the characters would look as if I were there.

I had to have another go at reading your stories after reading this. It makes the characters emotions and journey that much more intense knowing all the struggles that lead up to them.

Have to say, Cloud really had a lot of patience dealing with Zack through this story, lol. But he’s also lucky Zack forced himself on him to be his friend. Who knows what would’ve happened if he hadn’t.

Well, here I go spending the next couple months reading over these again, hahaha! This officially sucked me back into my obsession with your titles. :D

Your stories will forever be the best ones on here in my opinion. You made so many sequels and your storylines line up so amazingly with the others and have so much detail setting up for things within one another.

You deserve an award for how absolutely awesome you are!

Thanks again for all the drama, heart warming moments and utter tear jerking laughs! A lot of your ZackCloud moments had me in absolute tears from the humor, laughing like a crazy person in public! :D

Very much needed and appreciated entertainment!

Ok, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. This Chapter had me seriously rolling! :D It ended on sort of a serious note, but it still didn’t take away all the humor prior to it! LMAO!

I think this was definitely one of my favorite chapters. Ive always loved the way you have Zack and Cloud interact. I can’t help but laugh and smile at just about every conversation they have. Even the serious ones have humor hidden in them.

Ooh I liked the little talk from Zack. That was really nice and I am sure we will see more of Zack for sure :)

At a friend's recommendation I am starting here in this story and I am really liking it so far. Good development and stuff with Cloud and what he is going through.

Hello! That’s was so amazing! You really do have a way with weaving a story and some really fantastic action sequences. I have not read Reclamation yet but I do hope to see some of your OC’s in it. I also thought it was a funny coincidence that Cloud’s mom is 31 and the number chapters is 31. Just a thought. Loved your story!

Why are you so great at writing? Why?!
My GOD, this was amazing! I have read ALL Of you rstuff and I can't help but wonder why the hell ot isn't canon!

good prequel.

This is so awesome! Thanks so much for writing this.

And so it happened. Well done. You got the confusion and the doubt and the no-time-to-hesitate feeling very well across, painting a picture of Nibelheim that is more than just it burning down and everything falling into place. It explains how there are little to no survivors of Nibelheim, how the entire town could have just been burned down without anyone doing anything about it - Sephiroth may be Sephiroth but he couldn't have done it alone without using materia or using his full abilities to hunt all the people down. Instead Genesis copies are involved. I'm not too clear on it if they appeared in the game(s) as well, but they fit nicely enough. Only, as apparently Genesis is involved (or, is Sephiroth is using mindcontrol on them already, it at least looks like that to outsiders), he'll get some blame too. Unless. Unless. Unless. I'm looking forward to finding out if that is something you tweaked from canon in your games or if not.
Also, that friendship moment was wonderful. Way wonderful. I love how you get them on paper, have them work out issues, have them have personal problems, etc. Again, you make it so REAL.
Thank you very much for writing this story. For keeping it gen and in character, for putting so much detail in it and finishing it. With a feeling of dread I'm going to start Reduced to Specimens now...At least I have the comfort that RtS has a sequel as well.

Little to no interaction with Sephiroth. Not enough to get the man to know his name, probably. In addition to a not-so-great first impression. Not even enough for Zack to talk about his buddy. So. Yeah, I'd be surprised if Cloud registered as a real person to Sephiroth at this point. Which, in turn, makes it entirely plausible for him to just overlook Cloud, forget he exists right until Cloud sticks a broad sword into him. It is seriously impressive how you manage to work the story and plot in such a way that they automatically recreate the right conditions for what happens later on. Awesome work. :)

...in case Johnny isn't dead, he probably landed in some laboratory where they try to cook up SOLDIERs... It'd probably be better for him to be dead. And it looks like Cloud is going to be deployed to Wutai...Judging by the number of chapters still left, I guess the Nibelheim mission is the one way Zack can find to get Cloud out of it - or, simply, Nibelheim happened and the going to Wutai didn't, regardless of Zack pulling strings or not. I'm getting really excited, now that the end is coming soon - how is the incident written out, is it written out at all or does it end with the events leading up the mission? *Going back to reading now. :) *

This is an entirely fascinating story. It doesn't go very deep into the abilities and skills of a SOLDIER or cover much action and instead goes really deep into the character and the interaction and the development and the telling-of-a-life and a friendship. That is very, very awesome and very, very rare to find and I'm not just speaking of this fandom. I love how you write out Cloud's character, give him space and importance, substance, determination and his own feelings and don't just brush them over. Cloud before Nibelheim is a person entirely onto himself and for all that the one After saves the world a couple of times, it was the one before that that pulled himself forward on a sword and killed a hero/monster with nothing more than heart, starting it all. A person like that doesn't deserve to get glossed over. In the first place, Could is famous for his character and not his fighting skills. And it is truly so rare to find something that explores him like you do. And manages to make it interesting, *real*. Thank you very much for having written this story. :)

This is one seriously awesome fic. It is incredibly real and life like. There are a lot of OCs, but with the way you write them and use them, who cares? They are *characters* here and I actually find myself hoping that some of them will sick around (or make a guest appearance) in the sequels to this. The relationship between Cloud and Zack is interesting as well - without that mission in Modeoheim, with Zack already very much the settled First, the balance between them is a bit different, but on the other hand - it's Zack. When he is in the mix, things that usually make a friendship awkward, like teacher-student distance just seems to fall away. :) Not, mind you, that there is a 'friendship' yet to speak of. They haven't interacted enough for that yet, I think. I also very much like the references to Zack's not-so-easy road as a soldier. I don't know what they referred to so far, if its Angeal dying or just defecting, but, well, Zack's life isn't rainbows and roses either and I think you mentioning that was very important. It gives Zack more substance despite his comparatively little screen-time so far. Anyway, great job. :) I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this fic. :)

I seem to be bingeing your stories' endings.
This was a nice read. It felt very different from RtS and Reclaimation. Even if something bad happened I knew it wasn't as bad as what was happening in the other stories, and that they would be okay. I know they most certainly aren't in the end, but during the other moments in the story I found it very calming. I enjoyed seeing Cloud and Zack before everything went wrong, I think writing this was a really good idea for the sake of the story.
Congrats, this was a really nice fic.

~Serah