Okay, after loving the story and thinking about the probable ending (for months!) I realized that Don Corneo's potential future is the darkest one of all. Crazy Sephiroth trying to destroy the world is always stopped... furthermore, there is a way to 'save' the planet's life via Omega / Chaos, right? But if you let ShinRa make these machines and suck the life out of the living people, burning it up, basically, the lifestream ends. It can't go on like that forever. And then I realized, Don Corneo's future... WolfHaven came to Cloud, right? They told him they needed help with catching Don Corneo, and offered him a chance to change the past as a reward. But that means WolfHaven is trying to preserve the worst future of them all! One where the planet dies slowly... And Don Corneo said that he didn't recognize Sephiroth because of the scars, where he tried to cut his own face off, so maybe it wasn't even Sephiroth in that future? Maybe it was Cloud, and Hojo perfected the cloning process that time? Or something equally horrifying... It sounds like the true bad-guy is WolfHaven (aka ShinRa from evil life-machine-sucking timestream); they are moving through time instead of within it. By allowing Cloud to 'kill' Sephiroth, as a reward, their plans aren't disrupted. He will just be the next clone, himself, even if he succeeds. WolfHaven / alternate ShinRa doesn't mind if someone kills Sephiroth, as long as their preferred future becomes true. Poor Don Corneo was not a 'nice' person, but he was the only one LEFT - so he tried to save the world, in a half-assed fashion. Maybe Cloud and Zack only THINK their actions are having an effect on the time-stream, but it is because they are used to thinking about their own past as the 'proper' one, the 'first' one. And WolfHaven thinks that way, too. Their 'proper' timeline is where ShinRa accidentally creates this wormhole, years before the Jenova Project even starts, and ... Don Corneo MUST be stopped so that ShinRa can destroy the world! EEK! All the earlier chapters I was thinking about WolfHaven being some sort of outgrowth of AVALANCHE or something. But they might be the true problem. And if Crazy/alternate sephiroth comes back from the lifestream, again, like he did before - no big deal, they have Cloud AND zack AND nice/stable Sephiroth to deal with it. The story doesn't even have to cover that. Maybe Vincent, now awakened since Sephiroth got the key, is the one to figure it out, after hearing Sephiroth and Cloud speak of alternate futures. maybe it takes a turk to realize the true 'badguy' is the one causing holes in their own world's timeline. Maybe Don Corneo's actions (giving away that key) do save the world, after all, in a manner of speaking.

Okay. Long post. How far off the actual plot did I land?

Don Corneo's change to the timeline will have the most effect of all! Yay! It brings Vincent into the story. DoC is the only one of the games I actually played. So, I ended up liking that character a whole lot.

"Giant rock from space." Well, when she puts it that way... it does sound ridiculous. :)

eek! You warn the readers about implicit 'mentions of rape' but honestly Don Corneo's possible future is FAR scarier than rape. It's like ... the Matrix crossed with FFVII. Where they breed the babies and take them from the parents and kill them, so the rich people can have electricity for their parties. Ouch. At least the machines in the Matrix... ostensibly... had an excuse... sort of.

Aww. He thinks about his Mommy, when he looks at himself all dressed up like a queen. Yes, loving this innocent / jaded Sephiroth, in your story.

But why would Veld bother to give this paper to Sephiroth? Hmm. I guess it is still in his 'interests' as a Turk to make Sephiroth avoid Cloud? Maybe Hojo is mad and doesn't want the association to continue... And ZFAIR got assigned to the mission so quickly! After only one week!

It is eerie how well you use this 'video' he stole from WolfHaven as a vector to explain the 'science' behind all the inexplicable mumbo-jumbo from FFVII which makes no sense, in game.

Aww - Cloud is worried about Jenova 'compelling' Sephiroth to cast BlackMateria. But the problem seems more severe. ALL Materia call to him.

Yay, Reeve! Entering the story with a smashing hit. He's an 'unknown' to Sephiroth. He's all talent. He's hard-working. He doesn't sleep. He instantly figures out 'time-travel' as a theory, after hearing Sephiroth's story...

Some reviewer said that the sex-scene was 'sudden' or 'unexpected' or something like that... I thought the build was great, and it had been sort of crawling underneath Sephiroth's skin since chapter number one. He's always noticed how Cloud looks, what Cloud thinks, the way he moves, etc. Like 100% focus. I give my husband like... 85% focus. If I was as obsessed with my spouse as Sephiroth has been with Cloud from the beginning, then I'd have like 19 children by now. So, yeah. It wasn't sudden or unexpected, it was gratifying and well-done.

Or maybe the alternate name for the story is "how to make Cloud FLIP OUT" - everyone is accustomed to reading stories with Cloud as the hero, so your readers all helpfully know how that comment would make Cloud feel. Sephiroth asking "are you gay?" ... Cloud is probably like... O_O HOW DOES HE KNOW THESE THINGS?!

Well, obviously the closing section of the chapter wins all the attention: "I have to be perfect" ... eeeee! And Cloud contesting that in such an angry way (instead of a 'kind' or 'encouraging' way). But I really liked the rest of the visit to this area! When Sephiroth mentions that Hojo writes in peer-reviewed journals, albeit never actually admitting what he does, only thought-experiments - whoo hoo! That made me really happy - it made the world feel far more real.

Sephiroth is so intelligent, and Cloud doesn't seem to realize what he's giving away. Or maybe he does... ergh. We are all accustomed to reading stories with Cloud as main character, but teen-Sephiroth is better, because he's ... just ... All the good of that character before the bad? Lots of stories portray him as an idiot - socially, at least. Thanks for not doing that.

"Thank you, Father." Because it was better than staying in the lab all night. Ergh. Creepy. And sad. It's almost like Hojo loves him or, at least, Hojo THINKS that he does.

I've always loved Oniko's stories! I joined your fanbase back with Thrill of the Hunt (hehe...) and Hidden in Plain Sight... And okay, I've never read FFVII before, but back when you started this story, I started reading them too. I don't know if I reviewed way back when, since I was too busy joining a new fanfiction subject material. FFVII is crazy / overwhelming. But you were the reason I started. Thanks for the awesome! Coming back, now that I have a better understanding of the characters, and reading your story AGAIN - it's even more awesome.