Eh, Zack giving Sephiroth the Black Materia was pretty easy to predict the moment you had Cloud give it to Zack. Otherwise, great story, hope you decide to finish it or else remake it due to the release of FF7R

Has the remake made you change your plans for this story or made you want to go back and change anything?

Only recently just caught up. I've been awaiting this scene for a very long time, and i'm happily surprised by it. I didn't expect it to be Zack, honestly. Looking forwards to what happens next! :)

Makes sense to use Zack like that. It actually makes me wonder why other 'Zack-survives' fic don't puppet him.

Tifa and Barret... it's up to the fanclubs now.

SO... have you played the remake? HOW WAS IT?!

Thanks for writing.

Ah, so Sephiroth is Vincent's son? Sweet! And have you started on the remake of this game yet?

who will suffer the mako sickness? will cloud mentally switch with zack? will aeris be able to aid tifa in escaping
...

there is a lot ahead and i wonder who will be able to hold it down the best? girl power to tifa and aeris.

...

my bets are zack will have the same role as ff7o game cloud events.

Ehh. It started out very good, and was in fact my favourite story behind The Fifth Act. But you've reached the point where it feels like you're not trying. The Coral debacle and Barret feeling guilty was handled nicely, with a good mixture of humour and satire; he realized what was happening, shrugged, went "well balls to that" and went on with his life. That was good.

But now you're just following the plot with little effort to change it up. Zack's presence went from being very significant to just about as significant as Cid's presence. Half his actions now are "does boyfriend stuff". Same with the clubs, which was part of the lore and the comedy that supported the story: they're barely mentioned, and they accomplish very little. Same deal with Kunsel; he's been delegated to "tells Cloud when item is nearby" duty. That started out as items being placed by the fanclubs, but now he's doing the same in ancient cities where fanclubs could never have reached. You don't even do that "he knows what you're doing and cold-texts you a spookily appropriately response" gag anymore.

Each character now feels like they've been grinded down to the same general shape with sandpaper, and everyone's reactions feel dull. Nobody cares that Cait Sith betrayed them, even though you had plenty of foreshadowing that there'd be a reaction (ie people noticed he was saying things as Reeve rather than Cait Sith, and they cared enough to be suspicious). "I'm a spy and I want to work with you" was dealt with in a single paragraph and nobody said a damn thing about it.

Cid's abuse was handled in one paragraph; Shera was actually uncovering possible sabotage, Cid felt bad, and that was it. No lingering on how he would look back on years of resentment towards somebody who didn't deserve it. No emotional response that comes from resenting someone for years and finding out they didn't deserve it; as in, he did a complete emotional 180 and that was that. He let out a glib "she needs a vacation from me" and bam, issue solved. I don't say this because I want him to be punished, I'm saying this because a big crux of his character was neatly dealt in one single moment.

You mentioned a review at the end of this chapter, and I kind of agree with it. Not to the extend that they implied, but I can see what they mean. Yelling at Cid for calling Shera a dumbass is justified, absolutely. But so far the women in this story have been downgraded to emotional crying machines. Yuffie gets upset about Aerith's mom and Cloud wastes no time rushing over to comfort her; Cloud is upset that Sephiroth is controlling his mind, and he gets a swift "buck up, chump, you're the leader so act like it". Almost every chapter features someone crying, and it's never the men. I'm not complaining about this because it's a sexist issue, I'm complaining about it because they've been grinded down (just like the men have) to the point where their behaviour is pretty much interchangeable. Yuffie gets motion sickness, Tifa is concerned about Cloud, and Aerith has a thing against swearing; beyond those, they all behave pretty much the same.

I really loved your earlier work. The world used to react to Zack being there, but now he's just another character in a plot that does not change despite his presence. Maybe it's the struggle of trying to have every single character present and reacting to the situation, but each character had a much more defined characterization right up until they left the Gold Saucer and headed for Rocket Town. I don't want to say that your work is bad, because it's not. You clearly put a lot of effort and love into it, and even now I adore the way you describe things. You have "show, don't tell" mastered to a degree that I'm honestly jealous of, and your descriptions of locations and sensations are so varied and expressive that I feel like I'm there. I don't want you to think that I hate this story, because I don't. I'm just disappointed that what I thought was the essence of the story is no longer there.

You did a really good job writing this, but for me this chapter is the end of the line. I hope you stay inspired and see this story to its end.

FUCKING AWESOME

Ooooooooo! Cool! It's the end of the world, but a new execution. Curious, curious, I am.

So, to recap: Cloudknowing who he was 5 years ago means ol' Seph-seph can't use the truth to break his mind forcing the crazy man to resort to plan B. Cloud, unfortunately, trusted Zack a.k.a. aforementioned plan B with keeping hold of the Black Materia. Cloud, being coherent, is able to take advantage of team's proximity to airship in order to secure an escape route for the group. Party splits further. Seph enables plan B and many things go wrong very quickly. Meteor has been summoned. WEAPONs are loose. Tifa and Barret are in Shinra custody. Cloud and Zack are most likely lost within the Lifestream and getting their minds scrambled even more as a result. The rest of the team has the Highwind and are now the only ones who can save the day.

I was expecting this chapter to be a doozy and it was! Worth the wait! Definitely worth the wait. And now...the countdown to Meteorfall begins. CUE FINAL COUNTDOWN BY EUROPE! *starts rocking out to classic 80s synth-rock* Yes, I am listening to that song right now. It's only three years older than me! And, coming up next time on Escape Plan Green: The Great Escape Mk. 3. Mark 1 was Cloud and Zack escaping Hojo's lab in Nibelheim. Mark 2 was escaping Shinra Tower and Midgar proper. How will Mark 3 compare? One thing is for sure...Sapphire WEAPON wants front row seats!

Bad, but not nearly as bad as canon, Zach is more puppet and not a broken marionette. He was fighting and would likely have guilt issues afterwards, especially with Cloud having put his trust in him. The others rallied well, though yes, this does explain better why Barret and Tifa got captured. The aftermath here will be interesting, if still hard. Though I wonder what kind of effect the Mako dip will have on both Zach and Cloud this time. Until next time.

While this was a mostly serious chapter, and I do love that this story isn't afraid to stop joking and be serious when needed, there's something hilarious to me about our heroes ignoring Sephiroth's attempt at psychological warfare in favor of speculating about his parentage. That said, the overall darker tone, and oninous cliffhanger were amazing. All it took was ONE slip up for Sephiroth to get what he wants.
All in all, good job on this chapter!

Aaahhhhh Zack got the excorsist act! And he got to get the 'spa' dip instead of Tifa! I loved the whole bit with Sephs attempt at brainwashing cause he's still following script even when its clearly a wash XD but I am curious on how this will change the resort stay and memory reset parts?!

Ouch, poor Zack. And now both of them fell in. Still, great to see another chapter of this. With the remake coming out soon, I'm sure you'll get tons of ideas.

Poor Zack, he’s gonna hate himself for a while after this...