History Fanfic / TheFifthAct

--> It was the small actions that make the biggest differences

* DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp: Despite Genesis initiating a fight with Cloud as the latter is trying to find Sephiroth, Cloud willingly gives Genesis a vial of Aerith's spring water when he sees Genesis suffer from degeneration. Genesis is so moved that Cloud saved his life that he gets Sephiroth to come to Wutai.

* InSpiteOfANail: In spite of Genesis's attack on [=ShinRa=] not happening, due to a bunch of Hollander's experiments escaping Zack still falls through the roof of Aerith's church.

* {{Panacea}}: Aerith's spring water as it can cure Angeal and Genesis's degeneration.

** Yuffie, who randomly wanders into dangerous situations and continuously insults and steals the materia of powerful [=ShinRa=] SOLIDERS. It's a good thing everyone is so indulgent with her.

* LonelyAtTheTop: Sephiroth, as the top SOLIDER didn't have anyone to sympathize with or challenge himself. Which is why when Cloud shows up, Sephiroth desperately wants him as a rival.

** Kunsel is one [[spoiler: to Hojo when he escapes because Hojo's near successful plan tumbles apart when Kunsel reaches the other [=SOLIDERs=].]]

* SwordAndSorcerer: The three top [=SOLIDER=]s (not including Cloud) form a Sword, Sorcerer and Fighter combo. Sephiroth is unmatched in swordsmanship, Angeal is the best barehanded fighter and Genesis spams Fires and Status materia like it's going out of style.

* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: According to Genesis, Cloud quits [=SOLIDER=] once every few weeks. Presumably, he gets rehired or Lazard just stopped taking him seriously.

* CasualDangerDialog: Sephiroth, especially when [[spoiler:Cloud is trying to kill him in the penultimate chapter]].

* AWorldHalfFull: [[spoiler: Midgar and the Planet by the end of the story. Yes, [=ShinRa=] still controls the world and is draining the Lifestream. But the terrible tragedy and huge death tolls from Meteor, Geostigma and Deepground never happened, Midgar isn't as bad as Cloud remembers it, Wutai retains a large amount of its autonomy and there's plenty of high ranking employees willing to change [=ShinRa=]. As Aerith says, "The Planet's stronger than you think."]]

* GenderBender: In an attempt to get out of crossdressing, Cloud asks why [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIDirgeOfCerberus Rosso]] can't go. The others agree it might be better... except ''he's'' not cleared for the mission. Cloud blanches at this nugget of information.

* PyrrhicVillainy: [[spoiler: Sure, Angeal succeeds in kidnapping Cloud and selling him out to Hollander in order to find a cure. He then finds out that Hollander has no intention of curing him and fully intends to experiment on Cloud to find out what made Cloud superior. Then Hollander is killed and Cloud is kidnapped ''again'' with no cure to show for it. He betrayed Cloud's and his friends' trust, is now a fugitive and has completely betrayed his ideals.]]

* NoodleIncident: Yuffie's Treasure Princess adventures. Taken UpToEleven when she somehow ends up in the ''Northern Crater''.

* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: [[spoiler: the Jenova-possessed Cloud versus a sane Sephiroth]]

* ChekhovsSkill: Genesis always tries to cast [[StandardStatusEffects status effects]] on Cloud, only for them to [[NoSell never work.]] [[spoiler: Once Cloud gets possessed by Jenova, Genesis's reflexive casting stops Cloud without them having to kill him.]]

* AppealToConsequences: Cloud tries to convince Lord Godo that it would be a very bad idea to continue fighting [=ShinRa=], explaining that their plan to unleash monsters will not work, if they surrender now they could get better terms and time to regroup.

* NotSoDifferent:
** [[spoiler:Cloud is not that different from Sephiroth, to the point that Jenova was able to possess him.]]
--->In that split second, he'd wondered what he'd do after [[spoiler:he killed Sephiroth.]]\\

** [[spoiler:Also, to Lazard. Both are half-brothers, abandoned by Shinra and had to work their way to the top.]]

Revenge on [=ShinRa=] hadn't been enough. He turned his resentful eyes towards the Planet, and constructed fanciful notions that it was to be destroyed and made anew – that it was his ''birthright.''\\

Except… once he'd been freed of Jenova's influence, he'd realised how familiar that line of thinking was.\\
''When he found out the truth of his origins…''\\

Revenge on [=ShinRa=] hadn't been enough. He turned his resentful eyes towards the Planet, and constructed fanciful notions that it was to be destroyed and made anew – that it was his ''birthright.''\\

* MundaneLuxury: Electric fans are considered a luxury from Cloud's original time due the fact electricity is scarce and only used for the most important things in Edge.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: PlayedWith Everyone recognizes and knows that Cloud has a massive amount of psych issues and some suggest that he seek help but Cloud's [[TheStoic reticence]] and [[IneffectualLoner unwillingness to accept help]] means people just let him be.

** Cloud accidentally breaks the extra vials carrying the [[{{Panacea}} spring water]] when he fought the Grand Horn with Zack, losing Genesis's chance to cure Angeal's degeneration quickly.

* AesopAmnesia: Cloud seems to forget his lesson about letting go of his past traumas and forgiving oneself. To be fair to Cloud, all of the sources of trauma are alive again due to his accidental TimeTravel and he unintentionally loses all his friends and family in the process.

* AWorldHalfFull: [[spoiler: Midgar and the Planet by the end of the story. Yes, [=ShinRa=] still controls the world and is draining the Lifestream. But the terrible tragedy and huge death tolls from Meteor, Geostigma and Deepground never happened, Midgar isn't as bad as Cloud remembers it, Wutai retains a large amount of its autonomy and there's plenty of high ranking employees willing to change [=ShinRa=]. As Aerith says, "The Planet's stronger than you think."]]
* BadFuture: Averted, Cloud had no desire to travel back because after all the tragedies the future was not that bad. He decided to change the past after he realized he could prevent the tragedies and traumas.

* BreakTheCutie: Zack sees the dark underbelly of [=ShinRa=] when his beloved mentor disappears and both of his best friends go missing. See GoodNewsBadNews for specifics.

** ''You're not WEAPON or Calamity, right? You're just a nobody. Can a nobody talk to the Planet?'': At first, Aeris says this to Cloud when the Planet warned Aeris about him and how he seemed to know more about Cetra abilities than she did. Later, Aeris uses it to remind Cloud that he can't talk to the Planet. [[spoiler: Which means the voice that Cloud is hearing is not the Planet, but [[OhCrap Jenova]].]]

* ChekhovsSkill: Genesis always tries to cast [[StandardStatusEffects status effects]] on Cloud, only for them to [[NoSell never work.]] [[spoiler: Once Cloud gets possessed by Jenova, Genesis's reflexive casting stopped Cloud without them having to kill him.]]

** Most of Cloud's comrades in the original game (except ironically the optional characters Yuffie and Vincent) get at most cameos. Justified in that it's years before FFVII; most of the characters are too young or have (so far) no beef with [=ShinRa=].

* DidntSeeThatComing: When Genesis and Sephiroth first meet Cloud, they thought he was a normal mercenary with some sort of grudge. His skill and strength are not something they expected was possible.

* DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp: Despite Genesis initiating a fight with Cloud when he tried to find Sephiroth, Cloud willingly gives Genesis a vial of Aerith's spring water when he sees Genesis suffer from degeneration. Genesis is so moved that Cloud saved his life that he gets Sephiroth to come to Wutai.

** Young!Cloud acts more childlike than his 15 years in ''Crisis Core''. The Mini jokes also don't make sense since Young!Cloud might look younger he's not significantly shorter than FFVII Cloud. ''The Fifth Act'' occurs about a year before ''Crisis Core'' which shouldn't make that much of a difference.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Sephiroth has no idea that Angeal is dying and that Genesis ''was'' dying. Angeal has no idea that Cloud and Genesis know a cure for his condition and working on re-engineering it. [[spoiler: If he had, he probably wouldn't sold out Cloud.]]

* WeirdnessMagnet: Yuffie keeps running into and provoking increasingly dangerous monsters and needs to be bailed out by Cloud.