tysm !!!🥹💗

Thank you sm!!! ☺️

they can’t be in the same world yet 🥲❤️‍🩹

Generally, I think it’s only appropriate that soldier!cloud’s POV, his thoughts, actions and behavior are questioned and scrutinized, especially at this point in the narrative.

The phrase ‘What is fact and what is fiction’ from the trailers I believe mainly refers to ☁️’s twisted recalling of his memories of not just zack’s personality (his own personality as well) and the nibelheim incident, but also 🎀’s death and the scenes of her afterwards.

I’d also like to note that ☁️ never disrespects/dishonors Z intentionally/on purpose it’s always jenova taking advantage of his human emotions which makes him vulnerable. But the fact that it’s possible that he’s jealous and insecure in the first place is what gave the alien in his brain an opening.

Which only adds to the notion that zack and ☁️ aren’t as close compared to what most people like to believe.

So it’s only 🎀 who put a boundary between them afterwards—not ☁️. Soldier!cloud’s memory of zack, even after he said himself that zack was his friend, and even after he remembered him admiring 🎀 DIDN’T stop him from holding 🎀’s hand or acting like a couple with her—

He never drew boundaries with her until he admitted in the church that he only sees her as a friend. And alternately, in the same scene (in jp dialogue) he says “from now on, let’s make new memories together” 🎀 replies “is that how you really feel?” ☁️ responds: “of course.”

That’s why even AFTER he remembers zack swooning over 🎀 in nibelheim, albeit it presumably being a false/corrupted memory, ☁️ still holds her hand out of his own volition and was willing to pretend like a couple with her in front of the photographer in the dream sequence.

was internally/subconsciously jealous of him and didn’t see him for who he really is and wanted to surpass him if given the chance to. This is a human flaw and one of ☁️’s weaknesses, which jenova takes advantage of.

He also never doubts his own false memories, which would make him realize it’s simply unrealistic for a 1st class soldier to die being swept by a river. Which is why I think real!cloud idealized zack the 1st class soldier-

he basically mistook him for an insignificant nobody. It’s also worth to note that when he and Zack fight 🐍 together, ☁️ says “I’ll take the lead” because soldier!cloud perceives Zack to be beneath him, that they’re apparently not equals even though they’re both supposed to be the same rank as 🐍.

as if he isn’t entirely devoted to her; completely opposite to the real!zack we’ve also seen in rebirth. ☁️ also misremembered zack dying in the river as the grunt which I find interesting because even though soldier!cloud himself said zack was his friend-

(which that game also showed a scene from the DMW of zack choosing NOT to open up about 🎀 to ☁️ while staring up at a blue sky) ☁️’s (corrupted) memory presents zack to love 🎀 only conditionally/superficially and-