I reread this to Ch 45, it’s as good as I remember and probably deserves a lot more attention :)

It's weird seeing a version of Hojo that I don't want dead on general principle.

there are SO MANY final fantasy seven fan fictions. why are so few of them like this? the blend of AU to canon across the whole meta made this feel so official I'll be double taking with any relation to ff7 forever now. very comfortable read, indeed.

Really great story from start to end.
Ends on a far lighter note than I expected, especially given some of the previous chapters.

You did the story of the ShinRa Mansion true ghostly justice. Well done with Cloud’s story.

I can't help but think you don't know canon material all that well.

Sephiroth is a literal Godlike character that kill most anything with single strike, even Nibel Dragon is fall in 2 strike. Those fights is too much of facepalm material.

And then there's distance between Nibelheim & Midgar, and other small things.

I don't want to rain on your parade, (hurr hurr) but Holy is magic white wind (stuff). The magic rain you've described twice is Great Gospel. Since you've included Geostigma from Advent Children, the least fussy way to cure it should be the same instead of renaming a well-known Limit Break.

I think that was more than a little Chaos, but a good chapter!

I really like the way this chapter was written to include the details on finding the keys. The only thing that would have made it better was if the Odin materia was noted. Even so this is a pretty amazing story so far. I'm loving it.

Well that was an exciting first meeting. ;p

impressive story. i didn't like it much half of the time -the everybody is just misunderstood and "needs a hug"- BUT, that's what made your characters human. and though i partly hated it, i still read it to the end, and every other part i thought was brilliant!
one thing, your character selection in the summary. cloud didn't turn up much, and while zack was mentioned more, people like hojo, veld and even elfe were much more important to the story. as cloud is the canon "hero" and you selected him, i expected him(and to a lesser extend zack) to pop up and do something half of the time. that was a bit irritating and disappointing(i kept waiting for them). otherwise, great story! :-)

I love how you make Hojo seem so much more human than most writers do and how his "doubt" *coughJenovacough* slowly turns him into the bastard of a man he is characterised as it really gives your story much more depth and it explores into why Hojo is the way he is don't get me wrong I hate Hojo as much as the next guy but it's interesting to see him being portrayed as a much stabler person who once had feelings and thoughts that were actually relatable and I just realised I'm rambling but I mainly just wanted to say you've done an awesome job writing this

The story was great, but as I already said I liked the parts with Hojo and Lucrecia best. So I had hoped there would be something like a meeting between Hojo and Lucrecia after his death at Vincents hand. As with what you gave as reason for Lucrecia not becoming part of the lifestream, would apply to Hojo too.
On another note, except at the beginning Cloud is in this story little more than a secondary character, after the beginning he has at most 5-7 appearances and that is a rough guess.

This chapter especially the end was simply beautiful. I simply love how you give Hojo a heart and a reason to turn out how he did with Lucrecias death and most likely Jenova adding to his self doubt. I read the ending at least 7 times and had tears in my eyes, as it was so great written. Added that this is the first story that I read where Hojo has a heart and that goes into his past with Lucrecia, it's great. That Sephiroth is seeing a different Hojo that is his father than the one he has, it makes it greater.

Cloud is made of so much regret. Vincent plays shape-scramble. Sephiroth is somehow the one making the most sense?