Final Fantasy VII recs (original) (raw)

Conflicts of Interest by Madamhydra (shounen-ai, WIP, post-game)
The Conscience of the King by D and Sailor Solathei (yaoi, WIP, pre-game)
Chi to Ase to Namida by Akuma no Tsubasa (complete, multi-part, pre-game, yaoi)
Fusion by Knowing Shadows (WIP, shounen ai, future-fic)

Conflicts of Interest by Madamhydra (shounen-ai, WIP, future-fic) The quintessential FFVII fanfic. It's epic, spans the whole cast, and her plot connects together for a very coherent well, though out read. The only down fall to this great fic is that it's not done yet! But it's so good ,that I suggest anyone who hasn't read it yet to give it a try. I have the utmost confidence that Madamhydra will finish it eventually.

And here's the author's summary, because it's much better than anything I could make up:
The WEAPONS have reappeared, signaling the existence of a new danger to the Planet -- or the return of an old one. Suspecting that Jenova is somehow involved, Cloud and his friends set out to locate and neutralize the mysterious threat.

But as Cloud encounters people from his past, he gradually begins to remember what happened to him between his first departure from Nibelheim and his reunion with Tifa at a Midgar Train station seven years later -- dark and terrible things.

In the meantime, strange monsters raid a half-forgotten Shinra storage facility. The resulting theft leads Cloud and his companions even deeper into his murky and disturbing past.

Cloud also discovers that his ties to both his old friend Zack and his arch-nemesis Sephiroth are deeper and stronger than he could ever imagine.

Cloud thought that he had forever escaped his role as Sephiroth's shadow.

He was wrong.

And the most important question still remains....

Who is the real Cloud Strife?

The Conscience of the King by D and Sailor Solathei (yaoi, WIP, pre-game) A Rufus/Reeve fic that takes place before the fight to save the Planet. Set in the Shinra Co. and all the political intrigues that ensue, Rufus and Reeve meet and form a friendship. Featuring the whole Shinra cast, including the Turks, President Shinra, Hojo, Palmer, Scarlet, etc. the authors transport the readers into the inner workings of Shinra and how two well meaning people can be pushed aside for corporate greed.

Umm...and this quote has nothing to do with the story, but I liked it.
"Depends," the man -- boy, really, upon closer inspection, but he carried himself like a man, and didn't seem to pay much attention to the slight traces of youth left on his features -- repeated, waving one hand. "What do you consider safe for the masses?" "Well," Reeve began, leaning further forward and realizing, suddenly, that he was beginning to actually relax, "'safe' means that you take a bite, think 'hmm, that's hot', maybe have a little eye-watering and grasping for the mug of beer, and get on with your meal. I like stuff that most people can't stand being in the same room with unless they're wearing asbestos suits."

Chi to Ase to Namida by Akuma no Tsubasa (complete, multi-part, pre-game, yaoi) A spin off how Cloud's days training to be a Soldier might have been like if he was more talented. On the way he catches the eyes of Zack and from there General Sephiroth. An intelligent, uke Cloud story, which are my favorite of the Final Fantasy fics next to a good Reeve fic. Good, solid, writing with no glaringly obvious errors, Chi to Ase to Namida is nice look at a possible history for Cloud and how he might have got into a relationship with Sephiroth.

Cloud was officially pissed.

/Too little? Too little!?/ Cloud raged mentally. It had not been a good day. He had gone in for the stage one, two, and three SOLDIER tests, and all they had had to say to him by the end was that he was 'too little'.

Thus, he was pissed.

Cloud was capable of positively volcanic rages, which sent all nearby scrambling for cover. Right now, however, he was beyond volcanic; now his rage had crystallized into something very much like ice, or cold, hard steel.

Most people have an instinctive sense of what is dangerous, and, as Cloud padded near noiselessly into the Shinra Military gym he frequented, peoples' danger senses started kicking right in. Some didn't even realize they were making space for him, sidling away from his cold, silent fury. Others knew exactly what they were doing as they nervously moved to the other side of the gym. Those few without any sort of danger sense just followed their friends. Fortunately, none were stupid enough to hang around. Cloud might have done something that would have left a permanent black mark on his record.

There's also a sequel, All You Can Know, which is a WIP.

Fusion by Knowing Shadows (WIP, shounen ai, future-fic) *Yaoi* Cloud Strife finds it hard to deal with what he had to do to save his world, but now the Planet will give him a chance to change things; for himself and for General Sephiroth. So this is basically a do-over fic, but it's Knowing Shadows does a good job of it. The Cloud of her story takes the time and effort to think about why he was sent back to the past and what he has to do change things but at the same time, what he cannot do. Read for her great Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth characterizations and the friendship between Zack and Cloud.

The ledge seemed to get more difficult to traverse as he continued, the rain making it slippery and even more potentially dangerous. As he drew nearer to the hut, Vincent could see that, like the entrance to the path, it had been made to look as though it hadn’t been used in a while. The shutters over the empty window-frames looked like they were about to fall off their creaking hinges, but they were holding up extremely well in the wind despite this. Another trick to fool anyone who might find this place anyway. In fact, the whole hut – which only seemed to be a small, one-roomed affair – looked as if it were about to fall down, but was actually far better made than that.

“Clever,” Vincent murmured to himself, dark red eyes sweeping over the deliberate shoddiness of the hut. He knew that someone had to have been here recently. His nostrils flared as the beast in him caught the faint human scent on the wind.

He knew that scent well. Hadn’t forgotten it though the person himself hadn’t been near Vincent in nine years.

“But not clever enough.” He moved forward silently to search for a door. No-one seemed to have seen him, he was hoping. There was no lock of any kind on the door when he found it. Listening carefully, he could hear no sounds from inside the hut.

Do I go in? Or leave him alone and tell the others that I found nothing. Tell the villagers that their stories are wrong and that no-one lives up here.

The only reason Vincent was there was because of the Nibelheim residents’ stories. They whispered among themselves of the strange man who they had seen on the mountainside but who never came down to the village. They speculated on who it might be, but the strangest rumour had been that it was indeed a man who went by a name Vincent knew well.

Some of the villagers seemed to believe that it was Cloud Strife.

And I have to learn how to quote one or two lines and not whole paragraphs. *sigh*