I definitely should have waited before reviewing on Ch88, as I keep thinking of other things I wanted to add to my review.

This story is clearly such a labour or love. So many of us will have had our own imagined stories behind the lore, but what's amazing is that you went ahead and wrote it all down. The amount of effort and dedication involved is admirable.

A few comments I missed:

I liked how Elena got swept up in the action, you painted so convincingly how she went from the overachieving-drop-out-rebellious little sister, to realising that the Turk life is her calling (how can she go back to cleaning dishes after all that?)! It was hilarious when Elena first saw Tseng for the first time; how in that moment he embodied everything she was looking for in a real older man, I can see why that was crush-at-first-sight. I feel like Aviva's longstanding crush for Reno is a mirror for Elena's crush on Tseng.

I'm hopeful that Rufus and Tseng still have a thing, going forwards, albeit their respective duties and the course events awill likely always take the front seat, still not necessarily reason to smash what they do have and can enjoy. Tseng had such a strong sense of duty, of right and wrong, he failed to see so often that the world is messy, is shades of grey. Gosh, I wish for a future where they can be publicly open about their relationship (again, the helpless romantic in me).

Rufus' expertise for Chess and his growing affinity for playing chess with his real life chess-pieces is a great dynamic.

A scene that has really stuck with me was Tseng and Rufus using all their mental energy to avoid each other in the bunker, and the associated uncomfortable tension.

I really loved Reno's portrayal as a very credible and valuable second-in-command, he is so far from a yes-man, he provides such valuable support and challenge (the latter like no-one else could or would dare).

I'm, struck throughout (this and My Life as a Prisoner) just how trapped Rufus is: his time in prison is no more a prison than the rest of his life is destined to be. He is seen by so many as the boy who has it all, yet the legacy of his father's company is such a poisoned chalice. I can feel why he would have rather been a nobody, to have had the chance to find his own path, to build something from scratch. I enjoyed his spell growing up in captivity, and know that his growth continues.

I really loved how you tried to see everything from different perspectives, especially how important it was to see that military are not really the Turks' real enemy. We see this on a personal level when the Colonel (who Reno was itching to kill) has the guarded yet emotionally charged conversation led by Rufus, seeing how he responds to empathy and flattery, feeling the wasteful and unnecessary loss of *their* men in battle. "Baddies" are all a matter of perspective, and I like the maturity with which you explored that.

Thank you!

I'm glad that I got around to reading this, it is the first works I have read of yours. Long fics are my favourite, I relish getting deep into a story. Going into this, I had promising expectations: a long Turkfic, an exploration of the BC story, all from a writer who I can see from TLS has a deep interest in the original canon. Seven years' work is a seriously impressive feat of endurance , thank you for completing this!

You have a flair for building up your characters with their own personalities, of being able to show the reader different perspectives. You also have great attention to detail.

By pure coincidence, I took a reading pause here at Chapter 32, then later started reading your spinoff "My Life As a Prisoner" over *there* which turned out to be perfect timing, and kickstarted my drive to complete reading this fic.

I am a sucker for happily-ever-after romances, and I am glad that you didn't quite deliver this, it was fitting that Turks and the VP don't get fairytail stories. The romance between Rufus and Tseng is presented with all the associated difficulties: the President's homophobia and desire to see his son father an heir, the age imbalance, the power imbalance, the conflict of interest, the initial secrecy from the Turks, the later need for continued secrecy from the public, Tseng's attraction to women in general/Aerith in particular; romance gets in their way but I liked the analogy from Rufus that smashing it up with a hammer isn't the solution: that they can enjoy what they can get from it. I lived for those moments! Similarly, Reno and Cissnei's mess of a relationship ended in a mature and messy way, starting over and seeing where that led. And Aviva's eventual moving on.

I enjoyed your reverence to canon (of its time) as far as possible, whilst making it your own backstory to try to explain the events. I loved the reference to "gunshot romance" in homage to DA's translation of the BC script.

Reno and Rude's partnership was excellent. I love reading their pairing, whether romantic or close platonic; here you chose the latter. This made the scenes where they stripped and tied each other up all the funnier, Reno awaiting full-frontal on a chair was hilarious, as was Rude's ungagging and relative restraint with the ensuing punch. I enjoyed their comfortable physicality, and how Rufus envied it. Rude's perceptive and calming influence, also balanced out Reno's hot-headedness in a necessary way. The scene where Reno loses it in BC following Veld's shooting is one of my favourite, and it was faithfully recreated here, with real depth of feeling through the background.

I also enjoyed, way back when, Zack being all puppy-dog friendly to Reno, seemingly blind to Reno's clear frostiness.

Mixing up your writing style with mission reports, different perspectives, etc. helped keep everything fresh. I enjoyed the battle scenes, the range of monsters helped give the authentic game feel I loved Reno getting his hands on a mastered Enemy Skill materia and how the Turks and Rufus recognised the need to spare military lives wherever possible.

Should you ever get the drive to take this turkfic forward to explore the latter compilation in greater detail, I would be interested, though it stopped at a logical point. I'd love to see Rufus' perspective during the OG events: his transition to power, his journey through later events, the helpless romantic in me wants more snippets of Rufus and Tseng, however messy that might be, and part of me looks forward to how badly Tseng's bridal shortlist goes down with Rufus! In any case, you have set up the transition into the OG really well, and the (reduced) Turks position secured, but only just; their complex motives and volatile position helps me understand reconcile their preparedness to drop the plate in due course.

There is so much more I could say, but perhaps I'll save any chapter-pertinent notes for a later read-through.

Thanks for all the industry, perseverance, and care this took!

thanks for writing.
good stuff!

Um, hello. I'd just like to say that I just spent many hours reading this incredible work of fiction, and wow. You made me feel the gamut of emotions, from anticipation to anger, and everything in between.

In particular, I often marveled at the way you made the fantasy elements of the game blend seamlessly into the intense action/heist of the narrative. From about chapter 70 to the end, you had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would come next and hoping for the best for our heroes.

I also particularly loved your portrayal of Rufus. I think you managed the perfect blend of brilliant arrogance that really made him shine.

I also just really loved the final few chapters. Everything felt earned and right.

Anyway, I just want to acknowledge your massive undertaking with this work, and say a heartfelt thank you! It made me truly happy reading it. I'll probably go back and read a few of my favorite bits soon.

Thanks again!

Wow. I don't know why I didn't discover this earlier (probably because I wasn't looking until the remake hype got to me), but I'm so glad I found this! Honestly, I'm the terrible sort of reader who lurks and never leaves reviews, so I don't really know where to start here, but this was so amazing I was determined to be a less awful reader. I'll just do it in Aviva's fashion of "start writing and see where it takes me".

For one, I find Aviva to be the most lovable character and it's so fitting that she gets the last word. I love the way she writes, right from the start with her diaries with contents perfectly fitting of a teenager with her "high highs and low lows", up to the final chapter where her writing still has the voice of an idealistic dreamer, yet feels so much more mature.

And then there's Cissnei and the stark contrast between hers and Aviva's personalities. She did redeem herself as a Turk, especially in the final confrontation with Fuhito, but when it comes to love, I thought she was self-serving and unnecessarily nasty all the way. I suppose that's just the kind of person she was meant to be. It felt natural in the end that her relationship with Reno is anything but smooth.

Speaking of relationships, I loved how Zack and Aerith's love had a certain teenage first-love flare to it. It felt unlike everything else that was going on at the same time and in a way, it really made Aerith seem special.

And of course, at the heart of the story is the relationship between Tseng and Rufus. Honestly, I was never a fan of that pairing myself, but you did it so well here that by the end of it, I have nothing but respect for the characters. I also loved the bits where Reno discovers something isn't right, up to the point when he finds out what it actually is, and finally confronts Tseng about it. His outburst was so raw and honest, and I personally found it amusing. It sounded just very much like how I think Reno would sound.

And then there's Mink. When she finally sees her son again, I love how she recognizes that he "has a mother". She could probably never fill that place for him, yet in the grand scheme of things, she gets to play the role of a mother to Aviva. And we're back to Aviva! She really is my favorite I guess. I'm so glad she finally meets someone else! I like Reno, but I always felt she was too good for him. It's sweet seeing that her boyfriend actually reciprocates the feelings, and I can't imagine anyone more fitting for Aviva than an artist who can appreciate the good things in the world around him, very much like she does. And she certainly deserves someone who can appreciate her goodness!

I could go on forever, but I'll stop the rant here. Thank you so much for all this! It must have been one massive project to deliver every single aspect of it with such perfection. The story, the characters, the poetic descriptions of the world, and pretty much everything about this fic... I think they'll stick with me for a long longgg time. I had a wonderful time reading it, and I'm sure I'll come back someday in the future to re-read all of it again!

I know it’s silly, but at first I didn’t get the hint with Dark Nation. I was like, wait did she die and get replaced with an identical dog? Then when Reno reacted I was like Oooooh, right, it’s a hint about Veld. I felt somewhat dim after that.

I love the shift to a transcript of the meeting. It’s creative. Although I think there should be more ums and pauses. (You never really realize verbal tics are so prevalent until you read a transcript of yourself. Maybe you wouldn’t see this from Rufus as he’s rehearsed his argument, but Scarlet and Heidegger certainly might be more...unpolished sounding once they get into having to argue with Rufus. It’s ironic that when you’re trying to say something specific and purposefully argue rather than just casually making a point, you sound so much more faulty. Transcripts are so unlike scripts. So full of starts and stops of rephrasing and interruptions. As well as requests to please slow down and repeat for the sake of the stenographer.

Nice use of the “Bible” and “The Merchant of Venice” (we were encouraged to see that play in the park during Law School). So Loveless is a combination of every great quotable written work?

I love how skilled Rufus is on plating on their sympathies. Calling the President the more familiar Dad rather than Father and Heidegger Uncle Martin. He positions himself as a child looking up to them, that makes them feel respected and empowered so they want to say yes. My MBA Negotiations processor always said successful negotiating is getting the person you’re negotiating with to not only say yes to you, but to get them to think that yes is an offer for you. Everyone must feel like they’ve won. Couching your goal in how can I give you want you want, what I am I able to do for you? And the way he gets Hiedegger on his side, because Hiedegger is so easy to be one someone’s side and be seen as someone to look up to.

I also like how you tie in why the Turks were under Hiedegger in FFVII.

I love the scene with Rufus and Tseng. The push and pull. Tseng wants to protect him, but he can’t protect him from having to be the one to make the hard calls. From playing the roll he has to play.

Then Tseng running up to the roof was like something from a movie. Well probably like something from several movies and shows.

"Well, if Hollywood movies have taught us anything, it's that troubled relationships can be completely patched up by a mad dash to the airport!"
— Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons

Apparently the trope is called Race for Your Love.

It’s very classic and moving. I could picture how the camera would fram Tseng’s face and then him turning to see Rufus.

I absolutely loved the tension between them. The raw desire then can’t be expressed. Then when their hands meet while they’re petting Dark Nation, their hands entwined with the fur, an excuse to touch.

Just the whole goodbye was very touching and scenimatic.

(I wonder how my Dark Nation would do with a helicopter, he’s fine with planes - although he does hate the sound the cat wheel makes and whines)

You wrapped up that scene with Reno and Cissnei really well. It felt right.

I also love that you refer to FFVII AVALANCHE as a copycat organization. I think I’ve described them as such.

Then the Cat is back. It’s so nice. Although your efforts to assure me not to be sad did somewhat ruin the surprise. (I would have been ok, really! I had to read all the award winning beloved animal dies books as a kid because children’s literature is always about grief. Incidentally, that also has a trope name, Death by Newbery Medal.). I like how it works metaphorically, you think all is lost, but all the same there’s survival.

But then there’s also the tragic dreadful the irony of Reno seeing Aerith and thinking everything will go back tomorrow when in reality everything is about to get so much worse and never be the same again.

Then the explosion and casualties. It’s real and raw and I like that what Barret’s AVALANCHE did isn’t just black and white. They’re still terrorists and there’s still casualties. Does that justify what later happens with sector seven? No. I still hold that Rufus would be disgusted and infuriated.

I really want you to continue. I want to see FFVII from the point of view of your version of these characters. Including your Rufus’s point of view throughout, especially when he loses Tseng. (And I will try my best to make time to read it. With the remake coming out, I am on the hype train.).

I want to start with this chapter. With the end. The I’ll go back and review the second to last chapter. But first I wanted to apologize for taking so long to read this. To be honest I somehow completely failed to realize you’d updated this until long after the fact. Then when I did realize and tried to read it I couldn’t find the time. When I started to read this as a student there was time, even after I started law school there was time. Studying is more flexible than court dates and urgent calls from my investigators. I don’t want to make excuses but I want to be clear that I never lost interest I the story or your writing. I just have to budget very little free time and I’ve slotted most of it to traveling or social activities because there are too many days where it’s just me and endless files and the last thing I want on the weekend is to be alone in a room, even reading something I love

At moment I’m on a cross country flight and for the first time ever fully awake for the trip (3 day motion sickness patches are life changing). I can focus on this now and try to say something intelligent and coherent.

I like that Dark Nation and the cat both get to live. I hope the remake doesn’t retcon any hope of survival by making it clear what happened. I think the reason I like Pokémon is I enjoy games more where you don’t have to kill the monsters because they’re all cute.

I can’t believe this fic is done. 7 years is a life time. I got Dark Nation, I got my cat, I got married all of the constants in my life that seem like forever are after I started reading this fic. I got my cat because of this fic (I would have likely gotten Some sort of cat eventually, but I found The Cat because it reminded me of the on in the fic). I quoted a line from this fic at my wedding. This story was such a big part of my life and you’ve brought it to a beautiful conclusion.

Not much of a detailed review. More personal and sentimental than anything. But the joy of finally finishing it, now that I can just give it my full attention, is overwhelming. In a good way.

I thought it was very clever ending this fic with a letter. It really is the perfect framing device to wrap everything up and answer where they are now. It’s vivid and happy. Also the image of a guard hound being bossed around by a tiny cat is adorable.

I promise I’ll review the second to last chapter as well at some point. Even if it’s too late to really matter. But that will have to wait since I want to be more detailed there and that’s easier on a laptop at home than on a tablet, on a plane, during a thunderstorm.

(I’ll post this as soon as I land and can go off airplane mode)

This whole story has been absolutely thrilling to read. I'm sorry most of my reviews aren't real reviews. It's mostly me screaming in my head as I react to things. I did want to take a moment to tell you how amazing it has been though. I can't believe how truly encompassing it is. You've left nothing out. Covered so many different perspectives and never lost a single thread of the story. I'm in awe of you, truly. There are so many characters in this series that I genuinely never connected with but you've brought out a new way for me to see these characters and actually understanding why they are the way they are. If I had a megaphone I would probably gather a meeting to make everyone listen to how great this entire experience has been. I'll admit it was daunting to think I was going to read 88 chapters with so much going on but I'm so glad I did. It was worth every minute and more.

Thank you,

F.Y.

I cried. It's so good and I only have one chapter left. Then I'll just lay in bed for awhile.

F.Y.

WHY ARE THINGS TURNING FOR THE WORST. I BELIEVED RUFUS'S IDEA OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. I WAS HAPPY. NOW I'M SAD.

F.Y.

Eeeeee. Except I can see that we are clearly avoiding Cissnei and Reno. I wasn't ready to face it before but I'm ready to face it now after Veev's and Ciss's mini conversation early. I still don't have a ton of hope but I'd interested to see how it plays out.

F.Y.

That was nice. I'm already in love with Elena's instant infatuation with Tseng. It was perfect.

F.Y.

Well I did not see that ending. I feel like eating tide pods is the modern day equivalent to eating materia. I wondered if Shears would survive though. I feel like if you have an ending where absolutely nobody dies it's a little too storybook.

F.Y.

I hope Aviva and Cissnei can one day reconcile their differences.

F.Y.

I feel like maybe she should have tried to hold onto that helicopter a little longer. Also I really thought you might kill her off for a second there. If it needs doing, it needs doing. I understand.

F.Y.