#I love...Aerith....in the original

[kazumahashimoto]

i've grown up since! (i DJ now)

[theresistanceneverquits]

Me talking to a classmate I discovered loves Final Fantasy: I’m really disappointed Cloud didn’t beat the crap out of Aerith

Classmate: …Do you not like Aerith?

Me: I do! I just wanted them to keep the integrity of the original game

[ryanthel0ser]

yeah i did cry and sob like a baby during Promises to Keep, you didn't?

[aerithisms]

i just can't believe they made me cry so much over the most inevitable character death ever like this is a character death i knew about before i knew literally anything else about final fantasy and they still made me bawl like a small child

[willosword]

okay something fishy is going on with ff7r there’s no way the original game had all of this stuff in it. might have to do some investigating after i beat it 

[astrxealis]

my ocs..... i love you

[sxlphie]

Still haven't processed the experience of FFVII Rebirth and I literally beat it months ago. So much happened

[salmalin]

My sincerest apologies and warmest welcome to my rant about FF7: Crisis Core. Or, as I like to call it,

Propaganda: The Video Game

I say this with the utmost affection. Crisis Core ranks really high up there in my favorite Final Fantasy 7 installments. I played it when it first came out, borrowing it from a friend to play on a borrowed PSP. And, the more I learn about the game and the more I replay it, the more everything lines up.

This game is not about Zack Fair.

This game is about how Capitalistic Propaganda can sink into every aspect of life to the point where it is entirely indistinguishable from reality. And it’s very overt about it. So…

Here we go.

My treatise on Propaganda’s starring role in Crisis Core.

Part One: The Timeline

Something that a lot of people gloss over due to decades of Child Heroes in media—Japanese Shonen and Shoujo series in particular—is how young these protagonists are. We’ll hand-wave a lot of stuff in non-live-action series with just a little bit of suspension of disbelief. And that’s honestly just accepted these days. But here’s the thing about those hand-waves.

Final Fantasy 7 doesn’t do that.

Now, FF7 hand-waves a lot of stuff. For example, how far you can travel in a day by foot, the distance a man weighing approximately 165lbs can jump after being genetically fused with what might as well be a cocaine demon (Jenova), and how much hairspray one can reasonably carry on a cross-country journey while on the run from the feds.

Age is not one of them.

Exhibit A: Yuffie Kisaragi.

Do I really need to say more? She acts her age. So does Zack. And Aerith, even. Most of the characters in the original lineup were over twenty for a good reason. We see several kids in the series, and they all act their age, too—both the OG and the remake. Age is not a thing that FF7 really grapples with. It’s something they take relatively seriously.

Now, to the point.

Zack is 16 when Crisis Core starts…

… and he was 13 when he ran away from home without his parents’ knowledge to join the military.

Which accepted him.

At 13.

Without a parental permission slip.

Think about that for a second.

… Or for the next several parts of this breakdown.

Part Two: The Main Character

As I mentioned in the introduction, Zack is not the main character of the events of Crisis Core. Instead, he is the focal point of the second person POV. This is not the first time Square has done this. It was done most notably with FF9, FF10, and FF12. (I’m not going to go on an Akira Kurosawa rant right now, but please check out his film “The Hidden Fortress”. FF12 and Star Wars episodes 4-6 borrow heavily from this film.) The purpose and position of this character is such that they might best witness the effects the other characters make on the world as their stories unfold, usually in the role of a love interest. For Akira Kurosawa, it may have been told this way because these people are most effected by the decisions being made.

“Well, then, Sal,” you may be asking, “who would you say is the main character? Would that be Aerith, since she’s the love interest, like in the other games?”

No, actually.

It’s the antagonist.

And by that, I mean Genesis.

Hear me out. I used to hate Genesis, for I was once young, full of judgement for flamboyancy (thanks, internalized homophobia), and was led by the narrative to believe he was mean to his friends. Then I met my Lovely beta who loved him, so I wrote a fic for her as a gift. So for that I kinda just… read stuff. Because that’s the thing about Propaganda—you gotta read stuff to navigate it. I read the in-game emails. I re-watched all the scenes I could get my hands on with him. I read his wiki and tried to track down more information about him. Then I watched the scenes in Japanese and gained a better understanding of not just Genesis, but Sephiroth’s character. And I realized that Genesis was put on this road from the start. In fact, a big part of the fact that he’s seen the way he is in Canon—only at his most hostile and lowest points—is because the story is told through Zack’s point of view.

So before we get into the breakdown, here’s the hard facts about Genesis.

1. He was a test tube baby who may or may not technically be Angeal’s fraternal twin brother, which we are not going to unpack right now.

2. He was adopted by a relatively rich family.

3. He was a child genius (which requires not only resources, but drive to achieve), and at a tender young age of like… ten or something? He decided to mess around and literally invented pasteurization. Which is incredible, and really speaks to his knowledge of the world and ability to grasp complex concepts even at a young age. But, again, this is not the time or place to unpack that.

4. He was best friends with Angeal, who might as well have been the sweetest, kindest boy to ever walk the Planet. (I’m biased. I love him.)

5. As a teenager, he became fixated on Sephiroth, who had gained national acclaim as a SOLDIER despite them being the same age. (Please see part 1 and think about that for a second.) He then goes to join SOLDIER and brings Angeal with him. And Angeal brings his step-father’s puritanical “hard work is honorable” mindset with him. (On that note, Angeal and his father’s arc really are a wonderfully scathing letter to companies that overwork their employees and how toxic/unhealthy that line of thinking is. But. Again. We are not unpacking that right now.)

6. At one point he became consumed with LOVELESS, a series of poems with heavy prose and symbolism thicker than syrup. It got to the point where he was so well known for it that there was an entire fanclub dedicated to both him and analyzing the text.

7. While he was in SOLDIER, he repeatedly had his achievements publicly accredited… to Sephiroth.

Over and over and over again.

Everyone did, really. They mention it in the beginning of the game. Sephiroth even got public credit for Zack’s raid on the castle when he wasn’t even there. How much of his legacy is real? How much of it is made up? How much of it was faked? We don’t know. No one knows. But he keeps getting credit, anyways. And when Genesis confronts him about it, Sephiroth doesn’t care. In the Japanese version of their fight scene, you could even say he indirectly implies that he wants Genesis to take his place as the “hero”. In the English, Sephiroth’s line is, “Come and try.” But in the Japanese the line is closer to, “Wouldn’t that be nice?” Which, depending on how you take his tone, can mean wildly different things—from mocking, to earnest, or even admiration—which is especially to tell because he might be annoyed with Genesis at the moment.

Fun Fact: In Ever Crisis, Sephiroth explicitly says they are making up his achievements in the press to target boys his age for recruitment. (Thus why they accepted Zack at age 13.)

My theory on this line is that he is being cynical; that Genesis doesn't understand just how harrowing and even humiliating his experience has been. This only enforces my theory that the "come and try" translation in the English not only does a disservice to a line as wonderfully heavy as, "Wouldn't that be nice?", but fundamentally misunderstands Sephiroth as a character.

8. Genesis then took the fight to Shin-Ra. Inspiring a good chunk of their staff to leave the company, he then staged multiple attacks on facilities, staff, and the main building—which also spilled out into the city of Midgar. He murdered his parents, buried them, killed everyone in town, and… Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. A lot of innocent people died simply because they were vaguely associated with Shin-Ra. These are the actions of a villain. What’s more, this is clearly a sign that he has been acclimatized to death and violence by Shin-Ra to the point where he doesn’t even consider taking hostages.

Except.

Except the entire town was a Shin-Ra town.

Banora, canonically, was a Shin-Ra built town, which means everyone there was basically an employee of the company. No one was safe. Everyone was a threat. And that…

That was how he was raised. And he finally knew the truth—that every moment of his life was touched, controlled by Shin-Ra, all the way down to his very conception. He has never known freedom. He has never known his own identity. And now that very cage was killing him, slowly and painfully, and turning him into something that couldn’t even be recognized as human. He was watching himself rot in the mirror, and it was all because of Shin-Ra’s greed. And as he searched for salvation, he sunk into LOVELESS as he always had, hinging his entire life on Minerva’s Gift because he knew he was dying and that was all he had.

9. And then he died…

10. … but then it turned out LOVELESS was actually kind of a blueprint, and he did meet the Goddess, and he did get reborn without his degradation so he was rewarded for his journey in the end.

So why wasn’t Genesis the main character of the game?

Simple.

His actions challenge the status quo without being about the status quo. It’s a story about revenge. It’s a story about retribution. It’s a story about answering mass violence with mass violence and ultimately being rewarded by it. And while, yes, the series is an action-based violence simulator, the violence in the original FF7 was a guided, tactical effort. (For all that the characters aren’t the brightest bulbs in the sun lamps.) But the biggest, most obvious shift in the narrative happened when they realized their role as terrorists—bringing mass violence to the company via bombing and open aggression—was just resulting in increasing levels of retaliation against uninvolved people. They might as well have been a child beating the ankles of a giant. The goals and themes of the game fundamentally change when they realize that answering mass-scale societal violence with mass-scale physical violence was not only unsustainable, but also wasn’t going to solve their problem.

FF7 is about change and learning when violence—and what kind of violence—is appropriate in the face of different threats.

Genesis’ arc undermines all of that, and making him the main character would contradict the very heart of the OG game.

So, instead, we are positioned as Zack, connected to him through a mutual friend. From there we see all the damage and horror this vengeance brings to those living under the status quo.

But also, that plotline’s a major downer in a lot of ways, so they needed to lighten things up a bit to keep audience involved. And that’s why Zack is, well…

Part Three: Zack is a Himbo

Please, for the love of all that is holy, keep in mind that everything I say here is with the utmost affection.

Zack is dumb as a rock.

He is a charismatic, enthusiastic sixteen year old jock who ran away from home at thirteen years old to join the military. Which, please know, why I say “military” I mean “private security guard force with a standard-issue Death Baton and a license to kill”. The first scene in the game is him being excited that he gets to murder a bunch of people in a simulation, which he is immediately scolded for by his mentor. He is a glorified, souped up private security guard who is canonically only in it for the glory at first. He wants to be a “hero”, but doesn’t seem to fundamentally know what that means. And, over the course of the story, the definition of that clearly changes for him.

Which tracks, because the story takes place over a period of time with high stress.

Occasionally I see people saying they wish that Zack had more complexity to him, and honestly? The game. Would be. SO. BAD.

Full Disclosure: I am not the biggest fan of Zack specifically because he lacks a lot of nuance. I wish he was a bit more complex, too. But I also know that would break the game. What’s worse, if he was still on Shin-Ra’s side because he understood Shin-Ra’s mission… Well… That would make him a villain, or a cog at best. That’s not main character material. It would make the ending more messed up, though.

Anywho, Zack was thirteen when he left home. He had no formal education. He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing. He even joined without a permission slip from his parents. This means that Shin-Ra was accepting thirteen, possibly fourteen year olds into the military. (Some people will say this tracks because you can get a job at fourteen in many parts of Japan. But, and this is important, you aren’t allowed to be a security guard until you’re quite a bit older, and you need a specific license for it, much like in the US.) Clearly they didn’t teach this boy critical thinking skills. Not because he’s a himbo, but because having their Super-Powered Private Security Force With A License To Kill think independently would explicitly go against their interests. (EX: Genesis.)

Shin-Ra needs SOLDIERs to follow orders or the company would no longer be able to function. Seconds and Thirds aren’t even allowed to reject missions. (One could argue that sending certain someone on back-to-back missions would be a good way for them to eliminate undesirables within the ranks by sending them to their deaths, which… would make an incredible fic idea, actually.) We already know that First, Second, and Third Class rank assignments do not actually reflect the power of the SOLDIER. This is canon. I would instead argue that those who make the rank of First Class aren’t necessarily the most powerful, but are instead the most visible in the media, thus the easiest to market, and/or the easiest to manipulate and control. (For a great example of this, see The Umbrella Academy.)

The point is, Zack may have been elevated to his position as a first specifically because he is malleable and single-minded. Even after all he saw with Genesis, he stuck by the company to the very end, with the exception of the time Sephiroth was literally guiding him to fail a mission. Zack allowed himself to take Shin-Ra’s side every time, taking down their enemies and following their orders, preserving his “honor as SOLDIER” as he had been taught. The only thing that made him stop…

… was literally getting put in a jar.

It was when he was no longer a SOLDIER.

Part Four: Honor

There is no such thing as SOLDIER Honor.

I repeat: There is no such thing as SOLDIER Honor.

It is a fictional thing that is borne of an ideology based around hard work. It only has power because it is believed in. It is an intangible social construct similar to the law, mathematical order of operations, and gender roles. So why are Angeal and Zack obsessed with it?

Pretty simple.

Angeal’s step-father followed it.

Now, we know three things about Angeal’s step-father.

1. He was chill with the fact that Gillian was already pregnant when they started dating.

2. He was a very good father.

3. He worked himself to death trying to pay off the sword he bought Angeal.

This, of course, says a lot about Angeal considering he rarely uses the sword. He essentially sees that sword as the symbol of his step-father’s life. Everything he uses it for, he sees as more important than his step-father’s life. That thing is usually Zack.

Zack, who is the child who joined the military based on stories of heroes.

Zack, who rises against Angeal in the name of his own step-father’s ideology and tries to talk him down, even at the very end. But Zack fails because he fundamentally doesn’t understand what’s going on, partially because “Soldier Honor” is just one more aspect of this narrative he was given. It is a narrative that Angeal has had to step away from, even though he doesn’t want to leave the memory of his step-father behind. He was a good man. He was a good, hardworking man.

And that is why he died.

Corporations will use you up until there is nothing left, then honor your memory/sacrifice. Shin-Ra was doing the exact same thing the company his step-father worked for did; using up SOLDIERs until they outlived their usefulness. And Angeal was horrified to realize that his “SOLDIER Honor” wasn’t honor at all.

It was willingly submitting to control.

But, unlike Angeal, over time, this meaning changed for Zack. Partially because he didn't understand it fully in the first place. It became about acting with integrity. It became about helping people. It became about not lying down and watching the abuse Shin-Ra handed out in exchange for literal money; for maintaining the status quo.

At the very end, Zack understood what it meant to be a hero.

Part Five: The Conclusion

To sum up, Zack believed in and idolized the propaganda spread by Shin-Ra at such a young age, and was so convinced by it, that he ran away from home at thirteen to join the military.

He was their target demographic, so they happily took him into their ranks. What’s more, people think this is normal enough that we see no one opposing this, because the only people who oppose Shin-Ra are “extremists” or “violent terrorists”.

Zack then became their loyal puppy, groomed to fill his role as super-powered attack dog to sick on anyone they deemed appropriate, and he filled the role. He believed he was doing good. He didn’t think they were invading another country, because that’s not what he was told.

He went after Genesis, because that’s what he was told, and he wouldn’t let Genesis’ actions shake his faith in the company.

Then he went after Angeal, hoping to get answers, only to become more confused. Angeal taught him about SOLDIER honor. He taught him about a higher calling. He was the one who made Zack truly loyal to the company. This challenged everything Zack knew.

He went with Sephiroth, planning a small rebellion of their own (a white lie on paperwork) to get answers, only to find things he wasn’t ready for and couldn’t fully understand.

Zack is shaken by each of these events. Horribly. At times, we even watch him grieve. But time and time again, he doesn’t leave the company. He sees the damage they do first hand, and he doesn’t leave the company. The company isn’t the problem, to him. He reads their emails, does their dirty work, and “maintains his SOLDIER honor”.

Zack swallows what they give him right up until what they give him is torture.

Zack swallows what they give him until he becomes their victim.

Every step of the way, Zack is fed a story of how the world is. He was raised on it. He lived it. He became part of it. He was paid peanuts to enforce the status quo Shin-Ra installed in the world by force, and he was proud of it because it was, to him, something to be proud of.

Zack believes the propaganda whole-sale, and we get to watch, from the point of view of an outsider, as it slowly destroys his life before killing him.

Propaganda has the power to make suffering normal. Propaganda has the power to make murder righteous. Propaganda has the power to take a thirteen year old boy out of his home so they can give him a sword, and when they point him in the direction of their enemies he charges of his own volition, because they made him believe in their cause. And he believes in their cause because he believes that it makes life better for everyone.

But that’s not what’s actually happening.

That’s just what he was told.

Crisis Core is about propaganda, and the depths to which it can affect our lives. It changes our belief systems. It changes our perceptions of reality. And when it’s torn down around our eyes, it can make us go insane. It can make us violent and unreasonable as we realize just how much violence is being forced upon us—violence other people just plain do not see. It's just a a piece of paper. It's just a law. It's just a job.

It's just a war.

Final Fantasy 7 was about Fascism.

Crisis Core is about the propaganda that built it. It is told from the point of view of a boy, then a man, steeped in it. He watches until the people suffering around him—Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal—are twisted into villains by the truths and lies around them. Genesis and Angeal are tortured by truths, Sephiroth is transformed by lies, and Zack is subsequently hunted down to conceal them.

Crisis Core is Propaganda: The Video Game.

[yutaan]

❄️ Holiday sale! ❄️

Hey there, my lovelies! Once again, the end of the year is fast approaching, which means we’re all looking for gifts for our loved ones (or to keep for ourselves - after all, you lovelies all deserve gifts too)! And what’s a wonderful present for a fandom-savvy giftee? That’s right, it’s ART!

Everything in my INPRNT shop is 10% off for the entire month of December with the code "WH53WI"! And below, we have a wide array of beautiful papercraft originals AND other fabulous fare, all pre-made, packaged, and ready to be shipped to YOU! (Please note that due to tumblr’s image resizing, the artworks are not necessarily displayed at an accurate size in comparison to each other.)

Note: IF YOU ARE PURCHASING A PIECE WITH MULTIPLE VARIATIONS (i.e. one of the mini papercraft/Harrow/Gideon/Howl/Haku), and would prefer a specific one, you may indicate in your email which one you prefer (i.e. "I would like the top right WangXian mini set, please!"), and I will do my best to accommodate you! HOWEVER, I cannot guarantee that the specific piece indicated will be available. If your most preferred variation has already been claimed/purchased but another variation of that piece is still available, you will receive that second choice instead. I apologize for any inconvenience, lovelies!

~

BUSTS & WAIST-UPS (approx. 4-5″ tall)

Marcille (Dungeon Meshi) - $75 [SOLD]

Haruhi (Ouran High School Host Club) - $70 [SOLD]

Gideon, Harrowhark (The Locked Tomb) - $85 each [ALL SOLD]

Liu Qingge (SVSSS) - $75 [SOLD]

Jiang Cheng (MDZS/The Untamed) - $85 [SOLD]

Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) - $70 [SOLD]

Ed (Fullmetal Alchemist) - $80 [SOLD]

Maomao (The Apothecary Diaries) - $80 [SOLD]

Toph (Avatar: The Last Airbender) - $80 [SOLD]

Oscar (The Rose of Versailles) - $70 [SOLD]

Cherry (Sk8 the Infinity) - $75 [SOLD]

Jasmine (Aladdin) - $45

Meg (Hercules) - $40

Tohru, Yuki, Kyo (Fruits Basket) - 6" tall - $160 [SOLD]

Yugi & Yami Yugi (Yugioh) - 8" wide - $210

~

FULLBODIES (approx. 6″ tall)

Aerith (FFVII) - $80 [SOLD]

Wirt - $100, Greg - $75 (Over the Garden Wall) [SOLD]

Reigen (Mob Psycho 100) - $95 [SOLD]

Kagome (Inuyasha) - $75 [SOLD]

Anthy (Revolutionary Girl Utena) - $100 [SOLD]

Princess Tutu (Princess Tutu) - $100 [SOLD]

Howl (Howl's Moving Castle) - $120 each [ALL SOLD]

Haku (Spirited Away) - $120 each [ALL SOLD]

~

MINIS (approx. 3-3.5″ tall) - $30 each, three for $80, five for $125

Lan Wangji, [ALL SOLD] Wei Wuxian, [ALL SOLD] Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng [ALL SOLD], Jin Ling (MDZS/The Untamed) [SOLD]

Yor (Spy x Family), Nezuko (Demon Slayer)

Ciel, Sebastian (Black Butler) [SOLD]

Batman (DC), Elphaba (Wicked) [SOLD]

Chat Blanc (Miraculous Ladybug) [SOLD], Hunk (Voltron), Astarion (BG3) [SOLD]

Bakugo (BNHA), 2B (Nier: Automata)

MINI SETS (approx. 3-3.5" tall) - set of two for $60, set of three for $80, set of four for $105

HuaLian, FengQing (TGCF)

BingQiu [ALL SOLD], QiJiu [SOLD], MoShang (SVSSS) [ALL SOLD]

WangXian [ALL SOLD], Twin Jades, Jin Ling + Jiujiu (MDZS/The Untamed) [CLAIMED]

Sebastian + Ciel (Black Butler)

WangXian + Sizhui (MDZS/The Untamed) [SOLD]

Yunmeng Siblings (MDZS/The Untamed) [SOLD]

Junior Quartet (MDZS/The Untamed) [SOLD]

~

SIMPLE PAPERCRAFT (approx. 5" tall) - $20 each

~

ZINES (5x7") - $15 each

Battle Damage - 28 pages, multiple artists, matte cover, rated T

Death & Decay - 28 pages, multiple artists, foil cover, rated T

~

KEYCHAINS

small size - 2" - $10 each, three for $25, five for $40

sparkle effect (JC) - 4" - $15 each [ALL SOLD]

sparkle effect (Usagi) - 2.5" - $13 each

large size/sparkle effect (Phos) - 2.5" - $8 each

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you are interested in purchasing any of these artworks, please email me at yutaanchan23@yahoo.com with the subject line “Holiday Sale.” In the body of the email, please include:

Which piece(s) you wish to purchase

Shipping address (please note that shipping outside the US may cost extra)

Preferred email address for Paypal invoice

If you have a tumblr username and would like to include it so I can recognize you, you can also do that! :D But it’s not a requirement.

~ 

Pieces are first-come, first-served, so please be quick! (Likewise, please note that I cannot reserve a piece for you indefinitely unless you are able to pay for it or place a down payment on it at the time you contact me. Thank you for your understanding!) This post will be updated throughout the month to show which pieces have been sold.

Happy gifting, lovelies! ❄️

[cloudsmateria]

shitty friend. cloud strife x reader

tw: almost smut, forbidden romance

summary: tifa likes cloud, you're pretty sure. and you've been worrying about him ever since you left midgar, until one night in costa del sol you catch him sneaking out, following him on the way in the rain. u might know what happens next.

a/n: guys let me know if you want more of this i might make into a longer thing.

You were stuck sitting at your balcony watching the breeze run through the palm trees, Aerith and Tifa were dead asleep behind you after the long day you had all just had. You should be dead asleep, but your thoughts got the better of you tonight, anytime you laid down your continuous, tangled threads of thoughts came crashing over you. Sector 7, Sephiroth, your parents, Cloud. You were worried about him. He’s been acting off, he’s always been off but now he seemed a lot more lost, frustrated, trying to cover his thoughts up. Even his falling out with TIfa was uncharacteristic of him.

The thought of him was a strange amalgamation of feelings, comforting and fuzzy, or worrying. You don’t know what drew you so much to him, how you felt wasn’t something since you were a kid. You wanted to get to know him as much as possible, to be around him as much as possible, feeling giddier when he gave you a compliment, a look, an anything. Earlier on the beach he came to talk to you, while everyone else agreed to head back, that 10 minute talk felt like an eternity by the sunset, it made you feel warm. 

He worried you beyond what was going on with him. What was going on with you? Why did you like him so much? You had a creeping suspicion it was a crush, but denial didn’t let you acknowledge it. It wouldn’t work. Surely he likes someone else. And you’re pretty sure Tifa’s been in love with him since they were children, that must have gone both ways, especially against you who he’s only known for a month. You groan, leaning your head back against the pillar attached to the balcony fence you were sitting on. The thought of him added to your dizzying thoughts. 

You heard a door quietly creek down the hallway, along with some light noises from the creakier, shitty floorboards, and coincidentally, Cloud walking down the steps of the exit and going for the slim path to the main roads. What was on his mind this time? You silently hop down from your first-floor balcony, quickly walking toward him as you watched him get on the segway, zooming off quite a bit ahead of you. You got on one too, following him to the edge of the touristy bit of Costa Del Sol, getting off when leaving the area. Suspicious? You originally weren’t intending on hiding but that changed, trying to figure out what was going on. 

He ended up walking to the large pond by the cliffside, empty, and quiet, leaning up by one of the boulders and looking the moonlight on the water. You walked out, him looking at you. 

“Hey.”

“Following me?”

“I was worried about you." You said, leaning next to him.

“Why are you still up?”

“A lot to think about.”

“Haven’t got a moment to ourselves since before the reactor.” He said with a sincere look, the buzz was there again. “What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I’m here to talk to you but… Just everything… Sephiroth. Midgar. Shinra. Tifa. Aerith… You.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me.”

“So why are you out here so late? What are you thinking about?”

He shakes his head, it’s sweet how much you care. “Nothing, just needed a breath of air. Wanted to be alone for a bit but clearly the Planet had different plans.”

“Maybe the Planet is giving you a sign… I know you and I can tell something’s wrong, and you’re not alone. You should talk to me.”

It’s quiet for a second, before he decides to speak. “I’ve noticed about you that too, you never talk about what’s going on in your head.”

“If I did then would you talk to me?” 

He hesitates, he can’t remember the last time he really opened up to anyone about what was going on in his head, his thoughts. He opened one suspicion to Tifa, and look where that got him. But something about you makes him think you’ll listen, you won’t think he’s insane, or weak, something about you puts his head to ease. “Yeah. Why not?”

“I was thinking about my parents in Midgar. I’m mostly worried about you. I can tell you’re low, and there’s a lot on your mind.”

“What about your parents?”

You laugh awkwardly, thinking back to them. No one knows about it yet, Tifa and Aerith knows vague bits, but not the whole story. “My mum went missing when I was 15, and my dad has been missing since I was born.” You said, adding the second bit trying to make a joke out of it. “I don’t really know what happened to my mum, she went missing in Wall Market when she used to do underground fighting for money.”

“I’m…” He was lost for words. “Sorry, that’s horrible.”

“It was a long time ago, all of us have lost our parents so it’s not anything special. I just wonder what happened to her sometimes, and my dad, apparently he was a lovely man but she didn’t talk about him much, I have a few photos and a few letters he wrote to me before I was born.” You looked at Cloud. “He was a SOLDIER First Class in Shinra’s All-Star team before your time, so I assume he’s part of the regiment that died, if my mum got a letter she didn’t tell me.” 

He opened his mouth, but no words came out, there was a distinct solemn expression on his face. “You don’t have to say anything.” You said warmly, with a light laugh. 

“I’m sorry, it’s hard.”

“It doesn’t affect me that much. I found Aerith a year later in Sector 5, then Tifa when I eventually moved to Sector 7. So…” 

He stopped leaning against the boulder, beckoning you to come with him, you get up, walking beside him. “I don’t understand how you just open up to people like that.”

“I’ve never told anyone before.”

“What?”

“Tifa and Aerith just know I don’t have parents, they don’t know the details. Telling people about my past freaks me since I’ve never said anything for so long. But I know you feel the same way, I see myself in you, that’s why I can tell you’re off. We trust each other, don’t we? With everything.”

“I trust you, entirely.” You smile broadly, bumping into his shoulder, and in a strange way he felt at peace, being seen for once. 

“So you gonna keep up your end of the promise?”

“I don’t know, it’s a lot.”

“Nothing’s too much, don’t worry.”

“This might sound crazy, but sometimes, I don’t know if my thoughts are my own, it feels like they’re someone elses. I feel like I get memories triggered from a life and I don’t know if they’re mine or not, it’s all jumbled up, and it’s making me feel insane. Some of my memories don’t match up with Tifa’s, inconsistencies when we were in Kalm with Sephiroth. I started to doubt her, and we got into an argument. I feel crazy. I get these headaches and-” His words started to speed up at the end, groaning in annoyance at his own thoughts, wondering why he didn’t feel uncomfortable saying any of this. 

“It’s okay.”

“I get these headaches like my head is collapsing in on itself, ringing in my ears, static and jumping in my eyes, around Geneva, around fires, just randomly, and I see Sephorith and he’s not there, I can’t touch him, but it feels like he’s there talking to me, taunting me. I can barely move, it hurts so bad. Recently, I’ve been feeling like I’m losing touch with myself and thoughts that aren’t me are taking over me, although I’ve been able to keep it under control.”

“That explains so much… Maybe it’s some kind of mako poisoning?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think so. What do you think?”

“I don’t think you’re crazy or insane. I honestly think Sephiroth is messing with your head somehow.” You both have made it to the gazebo in the middle of the large pond, you stop to look at him, holding his hand in both of yours, his head blanking out. “We’ll get through this together, don’t worry.” A heavy weight had just been lifted off his chest, to be without judgement for once, to just say everything out loud without being trapped in his own head, alone.

You see him smile, like he’s about to laugh. “What?” You ask. 

“You scare me.” 

“What?”

“I’m too comfortable around you, it scares me out. You have some like, mind control materia on you. It’s weird.”

You laugh. “I can say the same thing about you.” He’s looking down at you with soft eyes, the green in them feels like it’s moving, the moonlight making them shine brighter. You can hear water lightly rippling around you, and looking at him so closely seems to drown the rest of the world out. When you look up at him, he can see the glossy reflection of the moon in your own eyes, lighting up your face. Your heart picks up, starting to hammer in your chest. You catch onto yourself, turning away and clearing your throat, walking to the edge of the gazebo to look over the water. 

You’re getting the wrong idea. You only met him a month ago, you’re out of your mind if you think there’s anything between you two other than friendship.

“Want to head to the beach?”

“It’s so late.”

“We’re used to restless nights anyway, right? It’s not often we get a moment of quiet in Costa Del Sol.” He said, grabbing your wrist to turn you toward him. “We’ll only be 30 minutes.”

“That is such a lie, Cloud Strife.” However, you let him slowly pull you out of the gazebo, in the direction of the beach with a huge smile on his face. 

“You want to, I know you do.”

“You’re such a bad influence.” You say, rolling your eyes sarcastically, walking up beside him, half the way there, you feel a drop on your shoulder. Then two. The four. A few seconds later, a light drizzle. You look at each other and lightning flashes hitting only a kilometer ahead and immediately rain starts crashing down. He grabs your hand since the rain is too loud for you to hear him well, leading you past a tree that seems to lead to nowhere, behind it an entrance into the inside of a hill.

“What’s this?”

“Found it yesterday by accident.” You take a few steps in the dark path, passing through some vine. 

“A lifespring.” You say breathlessly, there’s a small body of water in the middle with a gap in the tip of the hill, rain falling into the pond, the grass, flowers, mako crystals around it, untouched. There’s another hit of lighting and thunder. “Guess I’m stuck out here with you now.”

“This is better than the beach anyway. The rain and thunder add something.”

“Of course, you’d say that, Cloud Strife.”

“Never make a joke again.”

You smile. “It’s calming in a way, I agree with you. I like it too.” There’s a spot beside the pond, close to the crystal cluster you lay in, looking up at the hole rain pouring through, Cloud sits next to you, leaning on his elbows and looking with you. Your eyes shift to him, looking at how his hair has dropped down, swaying back, still fluffy, his side profile is gorgeous too. You could sit there forever looking at him. It seems to click, like a switch in your head. Your heart feels full, your stomach is in knots.

He looks back at you, and he catches the look in your eyes, a light, loving expression. It makes his head go hazy.

His eyes dart back to the sky. He didn't like it. Didn't want to like it. It was a problem, an inconvenience, and yet, he couldn't find himself caring about that. It was an amazing feeling, the feeling he had, even though it scared him. The way your eyes glimmered at him, the soft expression on your lips. 

“Thanks for letting me open up to you, Cloud. It meant a lot.”

"You know I'll always be there for you, you don't have to thank me. If anything, I have more to be thankful for.” There was a moment. “How do you feel about me?”

"I think you're great in every way." You say, vaguely, you cheeks heating up. "I love being around you, you're a good friend. How do you feel about me?"

He hesitates, a pause before he answers, but something about you made him think twice. 

"You're great." You felt a tinge of disappointment but it's what you expected. 

He's looking at you. He wants to kiss you. No. No. Stop. This is the worst thing he could ever do.

"But you don't really see me as a friend, do you?" Fuck, fuck, fuck, he's onto you.

"Cloud, don't be an idiot. Of course, I see you as a friend."

"Then why did you look at me like that earlier?"

"Look at you like what?"

He laughed. "I'm not stupid, you know. You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I..." You didn't know what to say. But you didn't need to know what to say.

“Am I getting the wrong idea?” He said quietly. You shake your head, butterflies being unleashed in your stomach, as his face is so close to yours. He had to be the one with that mind control materia on him, because your head was spinning, before he could even think about what he was doing, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against yours.

The butterflies in your stomach went crazy, you felt like you were flying, his lips were soft, the surprise took you off guard. When he pulled away, the two of you were breathless. You know what you were doing was wrong, but it was already too late, and you were too hazy to care. You turn over, sitting on his waist, his hands drifting to your hips.

He pulls you down again and kisses you, his arms wrapping around your neck, pulling you closer.

 You were kissing him back, not thinking, letting your feelings take over, you felt amazing, so good, so happy, like your stomach was on fire. He felt the same.

"This is bad." You mumbled against his lips.

"Mhm."

"We can't do this."

"Uh huh." He was barely listening to a word you were saying. 

You kissed him harder. He was all you could think about, how badly you wanted him, needed him. You knew you shouldn't be doing this, you were friends. Nothing could ever happen.

And yet, you were kissing him.

When you finally pulled away, your heart was beating a thousand times a minute, your chest was heavy. You didn't want to get off him, he flipped over changing the positions, pressing his lips against your neck. 

"You're not a good influence, Cloud Strife." You said, breathlessly.

"I know."

He was kissing you like it was his last night alive, his hands were everywhere, running through your hair, on your hips, your thighs. And yet, the two of you were not satisfied, not for a moment.

The feeling of his body pressed up against yours made your brain foggy, you could feel his muscles flexing under your touch.

You were completely lost in each other, unable to tell where you began and ended. His hands coming up to your chest, slipping under your flimsy crop top. You put your hand over his, stopping him, getting hit with the first sensible thought. Tifa.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, we can't. We can't do this, I don't know what came over me."

"I... What?"

"We can't do this." You said. 

"Is there someone else...?"

"No, I’d be a terrible person, I can't do it, can’t do that to my friend..."

"To me?"

"No... Tifa likes you, I'm pretty sure. I just can't..."

"But..." He said, trailing off.

"I can't, and I'm sorry." You said. "You're great, I really like you, but I've already gone too far. “Fuck... I feel awful."

"Don't. I kissed you."

"Let's just... Forget about this, yeah? Just act normal." You tried to stand up, but he pulled you back down.

"I just don't understand, you want this. She's never said anything. Why should we ignore what's so strong between us?"

"But-"

"I'm not interested in her. This is right, us. Don't you feel it?"

"It's wrong, I'm not an option."

"Do you have feelings for me?"

"Yes, almost from the moment I met you and I didn't realise until now, because this can't happen. We're friends. We basically live with Tifa and Aerith, we can't go off complicating things like this."

"They don't have to know."

"Cloud."

"It's worth it, isn't it?"

"Fuck. Fuck. I don't know. I'm scared, and it's too soon, and I'm scared. We can't do this."

...

pt 2?

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Since I asked you about Sephiroth, I also wanted to ask about what you think of Aerith’s character and her characterization throughout the franchise.

Hhh oh god. Yeah.

So, again, Aerith begins in Final Fantasy VII as a seemingly intentional semi-subversion of the Princess Holy Maiden White Mage JRPG trope.

Mechanically she is absolutely a classic white mage, but she's also a street kid with way more life experience than Cloud, who both connects instantly with him due to his similarities with Zack, her dead ex (because, of course, Cloud is directly copying Zack's entire personality), but she also notably pushes back against him, and repeatedly refuses to let him treat her like a damsel in distress, and takes direct agency over where the story is going and what's going to happen.

As she becomes more and more conscious of her Magic Special Lineage, she changes, of course, and... arguably falls a bit more into a straight rendition of the Holy Maiden trope. Albeit I have always quite loved the reveal that Aerith isn't killed by Sephiroth just as a big tragic fridging to advance the story through Cloud's pain, but as an intentional gambit on her part to ultimately defeat the villain. The translation of the game is famously a bit wonky, but my reading of the story is that she

realizes that Sephiroth is manipulating Cloud as his primary agent in the world and that she needs to get away from him

realizes that in order to cast Holy and defeat Meteor she needs to enter the Lifestream, so

she manipulates Jenova/Sephiroth into killing her in the one place on the Planet that has the strongest connection with the Ancients so she can take advantage of their knowledge to figure out how to make Holy work.

It also kinda seems to me like she realizes that Cloud is the best chance the planet has of a champion who can defeat Sephiroth and unblock the Lifestream for the Holy spell, and maybe she sacrifices herself in part in the hopes of breaking Cloud out of Sephiroth's influence. which, yeah, that is definitely some fridging-trope nonsense.

The original game absolutely isn't perfect on how it handles it, but Aerith is (especially for the late 90s) a remarkably active player in the story, with a lot of agency entirely separate from the male protagonist, who comes into a role that requires her to separate herself from the main party and go off to set her own plans into motion.

I am overall less fond of how she got portrayed in media after the original FF7, where she really did seem to get boxed into an entirely unironic Holy Maiden trope - especially by Advent Children which casts her as a literal lover/mother to Cloud, whose especially pure and holy influence heals the blight of Geostigma once her darling Cloud overcomes his personal conflict. And certainly, a lot of portrayals of Aerith I've seen tend to focus way more on her mystical, divine Cetra Chosen One-ness than on her actual upbringing as a scrappy sassy street kid.

The Remake games... have generally walked the line okay, I think? Aerith with the steel chair might genuinely be my favourite gif from any videogame ever,

(she's just so happy to be beating the shit out of this man)

although I do feel like her portrayal in those games make her a bit too much of a Love Interest To The Protagonist character. I feel the balance in the original focused a lot more on her coming into an understanding of her role in the story separate from her attachment to Cloud, but I also have massive nostalgia glasses on my face about Final Fantasy VII, so I recognize that I am biased here.

I'm curious how the Remake trilogy, which is a wild metacommentary on the legacy of its own original, will ultimately handle her, and I really do hope it doesn't confuse the idea of a "good ending" for Aerith with the idea of being romantically paired up to a male character, or with the idea of literal or metaphorical motherhood or some other bioessentialist nonsense.

[hollowingearth]

I'm sorry but the more I think about the Rebirth ending the more I love it actually like. The whole trilogy has been a meta commentary of sorts and, specially, Aerith's death is at the epicenter of it. She both dies and doesn't die exactly because us, as an audience, want both things to happen.

People have been clamoring to be able to save Aerith since 1997, there were fake hidden hacks, AU fictions, retellings, everything. Everyone has been at Squeenix's doorsteps begging them to let us save her. Like, it's at a point where the "Square will let us save Aerith if you pay for the DLC" joke is much more than a decade old.

On the other side, there's this very expressive unwant for any change whatsoever from the source material. It's not a feeling that is exclusive to FF7 either, there's this very clear pushback against any new remake/adaptation that deviates, even slightly, from it's original. People don't want new content, they want the old one they experienced when they were younger, but prettier, they want to both feel the nostalgia and experience everything as if for the first time again.

From that camp, I think the most prominent argument is that FF7 is about loss, right? And they're not wrong. Aerith's death is the crux of the story, it's the very thing that made FF7 as known as it is, there would be no actual weight to what it's trying to tell if the heroine doesn't die in the middle of it, an unexpected, hurtful, avoidable death. What's the point of a narrative about grief if you can just... avoid losing someone? Avoid having it be cruelly taken from you?

And yet, you see, if want someone to die, if you want something to be taken from you, are you really losing it? In the original, part of the impact was that no one could see it coming, it was a straight representation about how death is sudden and takes away opportunity from you. Aerith doesn't go into the sleeping forest willing to make a sacrifice for the greater good, she has barely started her adventure, she makes a promise to go on the highwind, the group is one location away from finding out more about her ancestry and her family.

That's not true for the remake, tho. Everyone knows about her fate, about what is going to happen to her. That's probably the most spoiled moment in video game history. I personally knew about her death before I truly understood what Final Fantasy even was. So now we have an audience that is extremely aware of what, when and how her death is going to happen. That's why the Confluence of Worlds is put at that moment, because it's the single most expected moment in the entire triology, it's the one moment that made the narrative resonate so well.

The impact is impossible to recreate now, even for newer fans of the series. People want a 1:1 retranslation but such a thing would always be a gimmicky shadow of it's original. It's why the focus shifts, now the most emotionally impactful scene is not the killing of her but of her goodbye, in the church after the dream date. "Thank you," Aerith echoes "It's been fun", a callback to her conclusion on Remake where she says "I'm grateful for all the words we shared. All the moments and the memories. You've made me more happy than you know."

So she dies and she doesn't, both at the same time. Effectively in limbo now, narratively explained by lifestream shenaningans. We put her there ourselves, by refusing to move on, refusing to accept her death but also refusing to change, allowing a different outcome. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, at least, Aerith's words sound like the very sincere feelings of the developers, who are grateful for all the love we all have powered into their work all these years.

I just love it so much, I could spend hours talking about it.

[mynameiskan]

A sketch for the main cast in my Highschool AU:

So Cloud will be a member of the kendo club.

Reno and Rude are in the baseball club.

Rufus is the president of the Student Council and Tseng is the vice-president.

Elena is the leader of the Discipline Committee.

I plan to add Aerith, Cissnei, Zack, and mini-Sephiroth (I just love his design in EC so much). I may add more when I need some cameos 😂

✨ Originally, I didn't plan to change Rufus's design but then I thought "Maybe I should give him a pair of glasses." He looks so good in them 🥺

Use #Shinra Highschool to see more contents of my FF7 high school AU

[tossawary]

Thinking about a form of Role Reversal AU (more of a Canon Divergence AU with a few backstory Universe Alterations) for "Final Fantasy 7", which I frankly don't know quite enough about to work out all the details perfectly but find compelling to think about nevertheless! I like to pick a few elements to do a reversal on in these AUs, but try to keep certain backstory elements intact for characterization purposes.

I think it would be fun to make Cloud Strife the star SOLDIER of the SHINRA company, but keep his country boy origins. So, he's older than he is in canon by about 10+ years or so. SHINRA came to Nibelheim for some of their human experimentation projects (earlier days of the company, the reputation wasn't quite so bad yet) and Cloud signed up WAY too young, out of a desire to prove himself and maybe for money for his mother. He went through some HEAVY shit to be augmented (multiple teenage years in a mako tank, perhaps?), but he still had an ordinary childhood before that.

While the country boy backstory and cool General Strife persona is VERY popular (thanks to SHINRA PR), Cloud is NOT as cooperative in some of SHINRA's ventures as the company would like. Cloud has still been forced into some shit he's not proud of, he's being ground down by some of the corporate and political forces around him, but he has disagreed with and disobeyed orders before. There's serious tension in the company due to this.

Which is not helped by the fact that "General Cloud Strife, SOLDIER First Class" is backed up by two other First Class SOLDIERs: Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gast.

(I imagined Tifa and Aerith as Angeal and Genesis and nearly swooned. There is absolutely a public love triangle debate being fueled by Midgar tabloids: "Team Tifa or Team Aerith???" Some people don't like the idea of stupid relationship drama being on the frontlines of a military campaign, but SHINRA pumps it up as a shiny distraction from their colonial capitalist bullshit. There have been fist fights over love triangle shipping by fans.)

Tifa signed on to the Nibelheim experiments in some sneaky way, without parental permission, and then it was too late to stop her. She can rip tanks apart with her bare hands and has done so. She is SO buff. SHINRA hasn't cottoned on to the fact that Tifa is the one pulling Cloud away from the company's corruption and was the first one to start actively working against SHINRA, rather than Tifa just being Cloud's follower. (Cloud is possibly having major memory issues due to various mako experiments.)

Aerith (is still an Ancient? and) was basically born into the company and never escaped. She could be an orphan or her parents could have survived, but they're hostages or they've been twisted by the company. Maybe Ilfana died and Gast (working closely with Jenova materials) became obsessed with finding the Promised Land to reunite with his wife. Either way, Aerith got shoved into the SOLDIER program. (Maybe her would-be adoptive mother is hanging around as a SHINRA employee trying to show some care for Aerith.)

Aerith is meant to lead them all to the Promised Land someday and her magic is TERRIFYING, but Cloud is the General because SHINRA has sexist views against women and Aerith's bubbly persona in charge of the army freaks people and the public the fuck out. Aerith is more than a little burnt out and jaded, after so long, but she's good at not showing it.

The point here is not necessarily to make these characters into "the bad guys" but to play with the moral mess that already exists in the game for many characters. This Role Reversal could follow Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith as the protagonists still, as they meet up with alternate versions of friends and enemies, and struggle to do good after doing bad. Alternatively, the story could follow Sephiroth as the protagonist!

Sephiroth is still Professor Hojo's experiment from birth, quite a bit younger than these other SOLDIERs First Class, and if he's a member of SHINRA, he's viewed internally as something of a lab-grown freak. Unnatural. Artificial. Other SOLDIERs don't like the idea that SHINRA is just going to grow their own replacement warriors instead of investing in "real people".

Option 1) for Sephiroth's story path here is that SHINRA wanted someone better at following orders. A teenage Sephiroth (and Genesis and Angeal?) becomes the replacement General when Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith turn against the company. If Cloud is the protagonist of this AU, Sephiroth is still an antagonist, and Cloud really doesn't want to have to kill this manipulated and abused kid created to be his replacement. If Sephiroth is the protagonist, he's struggling against the company who now wants him to kill the person he's secretly always viewed as his hero rather than a rival, even though it seems like Cloud has turned against SHINRA for good reasons.

Option 2a) is that Hojo is working for someone else who wanted their own SOLDIERs to fight SHINRA, possibly the earlier AVALANCHE. Hojo is probably a former SHINRA employee and has some sort of personal vendetta against Professor Gast for getting him kicked out of the company or something.

Option 2b) Hojo is still a former SHINRA employee, probably with some stolen fragment of Jenova (or maybe even Ilfana?), but he's working against SHINRA because the company is destroying the planet and he LIVES HERE. Hojo is a more rational scientist trying to save the world. Maybe he's working with AVALANCHE, maybe he broke away from them, maybe he's always been more or less working alone! I think he should be accompanied by Lucretia and possibly also by Vincent.

Hojo and Lucretia have gone to extreme (unethical) lengths to produce a secret, new, artificial Ancient to fight SHINRA and heal the world. A man-made "Chosen One". Sephiroth is a kid out of his depth and not good at making friends. Maybe Vincent is hanging around the place as a weird uncle figure to Sephiroth, or maybe Vincent is a relatively unknown figure who haunts their basement, because Vincent was Hojo and Lucretia's first attempt at making a super-powered hero to save the world and it did not go well. At all.

Sephiroth must gather his party and blindly venture forth! This party probably includes Angeal and Genesis in some form.

I don't know where Zack fits into this yet, but he is absolutely not growing flowers in a church, because that is way too close to making him just another version of Aerith instead of an alternate version of Zack. He could be Aerith's secret long distance country boy boyfriend. He could be a SOLDIER partially mentored by Cloud, who moved on to mentor Angeal. In canon, he has connections to many of the characters I've listed above, he's deep in the den of monsters, so maybe a funny reversal would be that Zack isn't a part of SHINRA and doesn't know any of these people. He's some random burly chocobo farmer who finds teenage Sephiroth and party in a tough spot, helps them out, and then gets dragged into a whole bunch of bullshit he DID NOT sign up for. Oh, shit, is he the ADULT in this adventure???

[somebodys-nightmare]

Cloud, Zack, & Aerith: Fate, Destiny, Friendship, & Love

This is a piece I originally posted on Twitter that I'm sharing here.

I don't think we talk enough about how Cloud feels about Zack, Aerith, her feelings for him, & the conflicted position this must put him in. I think Rebirth purposefully addressed this & there will be resolution for these characters in Part 3.

Like OG, it's clear Aerith has feelings for Cloud. However, the game does not create a mutual romantic subplot between her & Cloud. That development is saved for Tifa (subject for another day). It develops a deep friendship bond & comradery despite Aerith's feelings for Cloud.

In Chapter 11, Cloud recalls a memory of Zack in the Nibelheim Inn. The subject of the memory is specifically their love lives - Zack asking Cloud if he has a girlfriend in town, and then gushing about his own - Aerith. Cloud is visibly shaken by the memory of this information.

His recollections are still messy and tangled by Jenova's interference, but the fact remains that he remembers critical information that is factual - Zack was his friend, he fought with Zack as comrades five years ago, and Zack loved Aerith.

This is an expansion/new development from the OG, where he was not remembered until after the Lifestream scene and after Aerith's death. Bringing this information to light now has huge implications for Cloud's emotional state as well as his character.

(As an aside, it's also worth pointing out that those of us who played Crisis Core know that Cloud, in a similar Nibelhiem inn scene, has a heart-to-heart of his own with Zack about his feelings for the girl he loves - background knowledge that contextualizes things further).

While crossing the Gunnthra River bridge later, Cloud has another Zack memory, This time, it's of the bridge collapse five years ago, and the Jenova conflation causes Cloud to falsely remember that Zack died here, allowing him to continue living his SOLDIER persona delusion.

Cloud specifically laments that he's forgotten his friend, and states Aerith deserves to know what's happened to him. Cloud knows that Zack and Aerith were in love, and he knows from their visit to Zack's parent in Gongaga that Aerith still carries feelings for Zack.

Tifa, knowing Cloud's recollection of events are wrong/corrupted but unable to reconcile why, intercepts Cloud telling Aerith so that he doesn't communicate the wrong information & further exacerbate his deteriorating condition, & so that she can buy time to uncover the truth.

Let's head to the Gold Saucer. It's an interesting narrative decision to have this plot line lead here, which is why I think it was specifically introduced to bring context & eventual resolution to the romantic entanglements of these four characters - Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, & Zack.

On Aerith's date, much like the OG, she waxes poetically about Cloud's similarities to Zack and how she became drawn to him. Unlike OG, though, Cloud has already remembered who Zack is, as well as both his AND Aerith's relationships with him.

Like OG, Aerith laments that now, she wants to be w/ & find the real Cloud. We know the true Cloud has buried romantic feelings for Tifa (again- subject for another day) & so he won't reciprocate. That notwithstanding, Cloud is now also conflicted by his friendship w/ Zack.

It seems to me that Cloud wanted to clear the air about Aerith's advances on him and his relationship and past with Zack. This follows a plot line that started when they first met, and their unwitting conversations about Zack that have threaded throughout their relationship.

I know some fans may interpret that Cloud wants this out in the open so he can make a move on Aerith, but aside from that both being a terrible read on Cloud's character & ignoring the fact that he is still in the throes of an identity crisis, Tifa's date directly debunks this.

On Tifa's date, during an awkward pause in which both characters seem stuck on what to say next, Cloud also brings up their earlier conversation about Zack to see if Tifa told Aerith. This indicates that it's been weighing on his mind, & that he still wants closure about it.

Again, we see that Tifa did tell Aerith, but again, she isn't forthcoming w/ Cloud about this, because of the sensitive nature of the situation & Cloud's incongruent & incorrect memories. The complete truth is not available yet & she doesn't want to make the situation messier.

Cloud brings up that Aerith must still have feelings for Zack - remembering again what both of his friends told him they felt for each other. But Tifa says it's a little more complicated than that - acknowledging that SHE knows that Aerith has feelings for Cloud.

Cloud takes on her meaning and seems somewhat surprised by this, as he physically reacts & looks up. I don't think he's surprised that Aerith likes him (she makes it pretty obvious) but I think he IS surprised that Tifa knows.

This is especially important in a broader context that given the nature of his relationship with Tifa up to that point, from his perspective, is far different from his relationship with Aerith.

It is at this point that Tifa begins to express doubt about being on a date with Cloud, their intimacy, and ultimately, whether their feelings are mutual. Cloud takes this opportunity to quite explicitly dissuade those doubts, both verbally and physically.

So what's next? I'm not doing an analysis of the Ch14 "date" w/ Cloud & Aerith here, but its narrative purpose is to highlight Aerith's complicated internal conflict regarding her grief for Zack & feelings for Cloud before her death. Meanwhile, Zack is still trying to reach her.

Cloud and Tifa may have exchanged mutual feelings during a magical moment before things go south in the broader storyline, but they haven't had their true reunion or reconciliation yet. And neither have Aerith and Zack, or Cloud and Zack, OR Aerith and Cloud, or that matter.

I believe once Cloud is restored, all these relationships will be reconciled & revealed for what they are - romantic relationships or friendships - that were forged by fate & destiny and experienced through trauma, loss, perseverance, and love, all major themes of the game.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I understand why fans dislike the change from the original, but I actually kind of love that the developers went, “You thought you could save Aerith, couldn’t you? You want to make Cloud rush in to stop Sephiroth? Well, you can’t. She’s dead in this world no matter what you do.”

I’ve seen people theorize that part 3 will have a timeline where Aerith is alive, but the planet is destroyed, and the main timeline where Aerith is dead, but they save everything, and Cloud must choose between the two, driving home the unfairness and inevitability of death. I like that idea a lot, and more broadly, I like the idea that Aerith being in limbo right now is representative of the fandom refusing to let her go for over 20 years. Remake/Rebirth is a total remaster, one that could never possibly recreate the shock and impact of one of the most famous deaths in video game history, so I think it makes sense that they've decided to go down a more meta route.