clotilove

[clotilove]

NEVER LET IT GO AGAIN.

[clotilove]

Tifa’s Resolution

[clotilove]

My (On Going) List of Good Cloti Fanfiction

I don’t think I had read a Fanfiction in about 15 years before FF7 Remake came out, but since I was so damn desperate for more, I found my way back to good ol’ fanfiction.net…. which looks nothing like it did then - in fact it looked better back in the early 2000s… I also found AO3, which is where I lurk most of the time… So here’s my list of Cloti fics I’m a little obsessed with - many of these I’ve read multiple times. 

Last Updated: 10/22/2020

I started writing my own. You can read it if you want. It’s SFW so far…

Someone to Watch Over Me by  Iaintyourbro

First, some of my favorite themes, some of which I never thought I’d enjoy:

Zack trying to hook up Cloud and Tifa while they’re in Nibelheim (CC timeline). These are always somewhat hilarious and I can absolutely picture Zack doing this.

College AU. Never thought I’d like these either, but the few I’ve read are fantastic.

Pretty much anything where Zack and Aerith are together and alive and are friends with Cloud. Even better if he complains about them, because generally Aerith and Zack in these fics are hilarious.

I do like family fluff - so Post AC. 

“Deleted” Scenes and other During the Game timeline moments that could have secretly happened. Also okay with slight canon-divergence in these (since they’re fanfiction) for the love of Cloti.

Cloud and Tifa being awkward, innocent, dorks.

I do not do fics where they bring up the love triangle as if it were a real thing. Yes, that may be petty of me, but I read fics for enjoyment. I can go to Twitter to get annoyed. All of the fics below are strictly CloTi and Zerith. I do not do any other pairings with Cloud and Tifa - only CloTi. That doesn’t mean they’re free of angst. There’s angst, but they have happy endings.

The fics that may have some slight LTD stuff in them are generally during canon and are handled well. It’s not him pining over her. It’s confusion/persona/Jenova/voodoo stuff.

COMFORT FICS are BOLDED - These are fics I read when I need a pick me up or something happy. I read these over and over.

So let’s get to it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some and I got side tracked and started reading some of these while getting the links hahaha… 

Safe for Work:

My Rock  by  SCE0508 

Reunited Series by  Foxtale @foxtale97 Series: Includes six different works.

Remake Deleted Scenes by  holysmotez @holysmotez Series: Includes six different works.

Moments of Almost by  kitsune13tamlin

Moments, Precious and Fleeting by  dwightkurtschrute

Cold Kiss by Kuro Kiishi

Fated Encounters by  IG_KorrasamiShipper Lot of Zerith too.

Swords and Stars by  tishannia

Broken Hearts and Maladies by  Marjorie_Franklin Series: Includes 3 works.

After Advent by  kitsune13tamlin

Fidelity by  sekiharatae

Day to Day Life by  sekiharatae Series: There are 15 works included (There’s even more now - and Catharsis is incredible)

What It Means to Be Living by  The_Ocean_Deep 

Landing Home by  You_Light_The_Sky

Wakey Wakey by @silver-wield

Above the Highwind by @silver-wield

tenderly by hoegeta

On Our Way (Again) by @holysmotez

Not Safe for Work:

Party Like Your Heart Hurts  by  spaceOdementia

A Sea of Silence by  SKEvans

Bench Breaks by  Radiklement @atlasxderema

Sensations by  jordypordy

fool for you by  hoegeta

Gold Saucer Delights by  theClosetPoet7

Behind Closed Doors by  sekiharatae Series: There are 27 works included.

Avalanche by  OurLadyMuffin

I Don’t Know What to Do With My Hands by  LadyOfSkyhold

Learning to Live by  OurLadyMuffin

Acts of Worship by  someonesbunny

We Own the Sky by  Somebodys_Nightmare

Alone at Last by  Somebodys_Nightmare Series: There are four works so far.

Luster by  holysmotez @holysmotez

Time after Time by  Somebodys_Nightmare

Ever Requited by  Roxicodone

Sky Blue Daydreams by  spaceOdementia

Last Train to Brooklyn by Somebodys_Nightmare

Only You by Somebodys_Nightmare

Three Months, Tops by  umechaw

Instead, He Chose to Kiss Her by  Somebodys_Nightmare

Something Sweet and Wonderful by SKEvans

beating around the bush by hoegeta

The Shape I Found You In by  ipona

The Comeback Kid by Somebodys_Nightmare

Codes of Conduct by @mayonakanoame

Heart Infection by  spaceOdementia

At Ease by Wandering_Letters

If you guys know of any others, let me know! I’ll try to keep this updated.

Also, if you happen to follow me on here and want me to add your Tumblr tag, I’d be more than happy to!

[clotilove]

Cloud’s Promise to Tifa.

#gif #tifa lockhart #cloud strife #final fantasy vii remake #ff7 remake #ff7 #final fantasy vii

[clotilove]

WITH YOU CLOSE,  I’M THE HAPPIEST I EVER WAS .

[clotilove]

Hey, do you ever consider Aerith’s death scene as romantic? I saw many people seeing it as Cloud “losing his love”. Not just in FF7, I felt the “character who lost the person they love” trope was very popular in films and anime and it was usually portrayed as tragic romance, so that’s why the fandom(or even the newbie) can interpret that way without knowing the context in the story, maybe they thought that “losing a lover” was more impactful than “losing a dear friend”

I don't, but here's the thing, whether you see that scene as romantic or not hinges entirely on whether or not you see Aerith and Cloud as romantic. There is nothing about the scene itself that is inherently romantic. Cleriths say things like "Ofcourse Cloud loved Aerith, he was really sad when she died". Whenever they say something like that, the following quote comes to mind.

“Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a Friend" ~ C.S. Lewis.

I think that quote sums up a large part of the problems with Clerith as a ship. It entirely hinges on the rather disturbing idea that the only reason a person could be sad about losing someone, is if they were romantically in love with them, which really bring into question the relationships Cleriths have with the people around them. This is exhibited most strongly in their approach to Advent Children, where their inability to see grief as the result of anything other than lovesickness causes them to distort every aspect of Clouds character and the plot in order to force it to fit with this belief. It's these simplistic beliefs regarding the spectrum of all the equally important facets and types of love that lies at the heart of why Clerith, as an interpretation, is so fundamentally shallow. Everything has to revolve around one thing, romantic infatuation, everything has to revolve around one person Aerith. But if that were true we wouldn't see Tifa break down at the sight of Aeriths corpse, we wouldn't see Tifa break down in case of Tifa. But she does, moreso even than Cloud, because Tifa loved Aerith, not as a lover, but as something more, a friend, an important part of herself, love for the sake of love, not for romantic purposes. And the same thing goes for Cloud, he mourns because he cared for Aerith, he loved her, yes, in that she mattered to Cloud. But whether he loved Aerith, and whether he was in love with her, are two entirely different things. Aerith was a friend, a surrogate mother, her race as well as her personality made her representative of something important, the last of the ancients, nature, mankinds innocence even. And to Cloud her death instantly makes her represent the price of his own failure and weakness. All of these things are important, and all of these things are diminished by the idea that her loss is only sad because Cloud wanted to sleep with her. Cloud being in love with Aerith would make her death less tragic, not more. You also correctly hit on the point that the reason people saw this as romantic is not because there is anything in the product itself that says it's romantic, but because they take tropes they've seen in the past, and project it onto FFVII. But sometimes tropes are subverted, the existence of romantic tropes doesn't prove romance unless they're followed through on, which they're not in FFVII. Aeriths death is MEANT to be a subversion of tropes, meaning tropes aren't reliable evidence.

[clotilove]

I’M REALLY GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK, CLOUD. REALLY GLAD.

[clotilove]

Sephiroth. Long as he’s still out there, I...

[clotilove]

CLOUD POUTING

[clotilove]

WITH YOU CLOSE,  I’M THE HAPPIEST I EVER WAS .

[clotilove]

[clotilove]

Stupidity

It is so clear cleriths do not understand what Cloud’s false identity was. I have seen all of them say “Why does Cloud remember Aerith when he regains his true self if he was Zack”   He WASN’T Zack. Nowhere is it ever stated he was Zack.  “His facade is him pretending he’s not in love with Aerith”  Ok. Why does he have a facade before even meeting Aerith? Why does his facade break down around Tifa when he doesn’t even know her name. Why does he very clearly not want anything to do with Aerith when she’s trying to give him a flower. He still had his facade there huh? And her telling him not to fall in love with her you’d think that’d be the start of this “facade” in which he’s pretending he isn’t.  Cloud’s facade exists independently from Aerith. Cloud’s false identity is not because he’s pretending to not be in love with her because she said not to (wtf they actually think this omfg) 

Cloud’s facade/false persona was created before the game even started. The Remake ultimania does not confirm he “is pretending not to love Aerith” it’s saying what the past ultimanias have always said. Cloud’s true self only emerges around Tifa, not Aerith, he has a false persona around Aerith and she is acknowledging this. Both in OG with her “I want to meet you” admitting she has not met the real Cloud, and with the Remake in which she says any feelings he may feel towards her wouldn’t be real because he is not truly himself. 

Sources: 

Enigma of the voice As Cloud is trying to place the bomb, a mysterious voice speaks to him. Later, this same kind of mysterious voice resounds in Cloud’s head in the scene where he and a voice have a conversation, and it offers him reminders. These voices are the original Cloud, as – due to Hojo’s Sephiroth Clones experiment –Zack’s personality merged with his, creating the present day Cloud, producing a conflict of multiple personalities- FF7 Ultimania Omega, pg. 68 

When staying at a private house, the mysterious voice echoed inside Cloud’s mind again, asking him why he didn’t see Tifa before leaving to the Mako reactor 5 years ago. In truth, Cloud didn’t want his identity known as a regular trooper/soldier and avoided Tifa, but this memory is sealed. Does the voice trying to awaken him belong to Sephiroth, who made Cloud his puppet? Or is it Cloud trying to return to his original self? – Judging from the dialogue, “It was a great chance for you two to see each other again,” it seems to be the latter. The voice also says things that see through to Cloud’s hidden feelings. -FF7 Ultimania Omega, pg. 110

Cloud had been stricken with Mako poisoning on two separate occasions, once in the 7th Street slum train station, and again in Mideel. Both times it had been Tifa’s voice calling to him that had restored him to consciousness.- FF20th Anniversary Ultimania Vol 2: Scenario pg. 206 

Due to the influence of the Jenova cells implanted in his body he acted out a false persona, but with the support of his friends he regains his true self and grows as a person.- FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

At first he calls himself “ex-SOLDIER, 1st Class”, and affects a condescending attitude towards the people around him, but this is a false pretence born from Cloud’s own desires. - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

At the age of 16 Cloud was sent on a mission to his hometown of Nibelheim, where Sephiroth went out of control (what is commonly called the “Sephiroth Incident”). Cloud, having suffered heavy injuries during the incident, was injected with cells from Jenova, an extraterrestrial life form. These cells, which Sephiroth also had in his body, controlled Cloud’s thoughts and created a separate personality, and tried to manipulate Cloud into joining with Sephiroth. Even the Meteor crisis was indirectly caused by Cloud having become a puppet to Sephiroth. In FFVII Cloud finally regains his true self and defeats Sephiroth, but this doesn’t mean he’s completely freed from the will of Jenova, and in AC he is tormented by the Remnant’s call for the Reunion.- - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41 

While still just a grunt, he aims to be in SOLDIER. He strikes up a friendship with Zack, a SOLDIER 1st Class; what influence will he have on Cloud, that would lead to Cloud imitating Zack’s personality - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

What Cloud Inherited from Zack

Under the effect of Jenova’s cells, Cloud mimics his best friend Zack and creates a new persona, but the mental aspects weren’t the only things he received from Zack. - FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile pg. 36-41

Zack’s personality had a heavy influence on the formation of Cloud’s personality when he was under Jenova’s control. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85

He lost his life trying to escape from the clutches of ShinRa, who had been performing experiments on the bodies of Cloud and himself. Although Zack was already deceased before the start of the story, Cloud confused himself with Zack and in the process of recovering his original self, Zack’s character is also brought to light. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85

The photo taken with Tifa and Sephiroth prior to the departure to the Mako Reactor. It provided and opportunity to expose the falsehood in Cloud’s memories. -FF7 10th anniversary Ultimania, Zack’s profile pg. 82 - 85 

First love Zack Aerith’s first love was Zack, a young SOLDIER 1st Class who she lost contact with 5 years ago. He was Cloud’s best friend, and his personality has had a great influence on Cloud’s behavior. Aerith is unaware that the two were best friends, and takes an interest in Cloud because she sees Zack in him. -pg. 197 of the FF 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 1: Character

Aerith’s first love is Zack, the object of Cloud’s basic personality of being an “ex-SOLDIER.” . We could say Cloud’s speaking and acting like Zack is a big reason why Aerith started to have good feelings towards Cloud. -pg. 29, FFVII Ultimania Omega

“I’m looking for you."…"So you won’t have a beakdown.” - what Aerith told Cloud had many deep meanings. Aerith detected that the present Cloud is not the real him during their encounters. She knows it because of her mysterious, inherent ability. -pg. 29, FFVII Ultimania Omega (Aerith knows the real Cloud bit cleriths in the ass because in the remake she tells Cloud his feelings aren’t real.)

Jenova’s mimic ability Jenova has a mimic ability which allows it to read the memories and feelings of others, then adjust its appearance, speech and behaviour accordingly to immitate what it has seen. Jenova once used this ability to get close to the Ancients and infect them with its virus, which killed many of them.

This ability is not limited solely to Jenova itself, for those who have its cells within them possess it as well, though in an incomplete form. Immediately prior to the start of the game, when Cloud’s mind was shattered, he ran into Tifa and seemed to immediately return to “normal” (–>P.13); this was because the mimic abilities of the Jenova cells inside Cloud read her mind, seeing her memories of him, which were then combined with his own ideal vision of himself, fashioning a new personality for him. -FF7 Ultimania Omega

Why does Cloud remember Aerith after regaining his true self?

Because the real Cloud was never gone, it was always there trying to regain control. That’s why the voice speaks to Cloud throughout the game in OG, the real Cloud is TRYING to come back. The real Cloud has memories because he wasn’t blacked out throughout disc 1. He’d remember Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge too. His flashbacks in AC also show he has memories Shinra exploding, and has memories of Zack when he was in his mako poisoned comatose state!  Tl;Dr

What Cloud’s false persona/facade was/is: A combination of memories and Cloud’s own desires with Zack as a basis–brought about by the Jenova cells in his body. His true self emerges only around Tifa, and Tifa is the one who helps him regain his true self.  What Cloud’s false persona/facade is not: Aerith told him not to fall in love with her so he’s putting on a facade that he’s not in love with her.

P.s. As for Maiden and Dismantled, they were both written by a man who was never involved with the development of FF7 or its compilation, and funnily enough cleriths claim Aerith knew the real Cloud but cite Maiden–in which Aerith admits she doesn’t know the real Cloud and can’t help him regain himself. Ironic.  

[clotilove]

THANK YOU.

[clotilove]

Can we just appreciate all the lengths Cloud went through to save Tifa from Corneo? Especially the bits he found embarrassing? Now THAT'S a hero.

Lol this is also one of his important sayings from the ultimania, as translated by Audrey on twitter.

Odd choice, right? Of all times Cloud was embarrassed or self conscious it's the time when Tifa sees him looking bad. Because he always wants Tifa to have a good opinion of him.

He definitely went above and beyond for her.

[clotilove]

I don’t know what it is about the scene but I absolutely love the way Cloud is looking at Tifa when she wakes up after the plate fall. He’s looking at her so intensely and the way he tilts his head, as if he was studying her face and is just fascinated by her. I don’t think he’s looked at anyone else that way (nor do I think he will). It’s such a small Cloti moment compared to everything else that we’ve got but it’s weirdly intimate and I love it so much!

You know you can’t mention intense looks without me grabbing an image of it lol

This is him relieved she woke up. There’s a slight pleased look around his mouth that’s not a complete smile, but he’s definitely happy to see her awake. It’s that kind of “thank god” moment, only more muted because it’s Cloud and he’s not into massive displays of emotion. Which is why I spend forever looking between 1s frames to catch his micro expressions, the cheeky bastard.

This is very soft and loving. He must’ve been waiting for a while for her to wake up and now she has he’s curious if she’s ok. His head tilted and he’s making eye contact -- eye contact -- so yet another good example of why Cloud has a thing for Tifa. 

I know some people must be sick of me mentioning eye contact like it’s the only evidence for cloti, but actually, it is evidence because Cloud avoids eye contact with others. I think there’s maybe a handful of times in the whole game that he chooses not to look Tifa in the eye. Once when he’s teasing her about leaving Midgar and doesn’t want her to know he’s messing about and when he doesn’t want to look her in the eye and see if their promise doesn’t matter as much to her as it does to him and when he thinks she rejects him. That’s it. The rest of the time he looks right at her.

Also, I just gotta add to this that after I literally just got through saying how many times do we get a 1st person pov in this game over in my latest analysis, I get this where it’s a 1st person pov. 

Cloud looked at Tifa in the 1st person. We saw her through his eyes.

Now, we’ve got Tifa looking at Cloud in the 1st person pov. 

But, you know, there’s zero implication in that deliberately contrived mechanic that should lead anyone to believe they’re a couple lol

[clotilove]

A flower for you.

Happy birthday Tifa 🌹

[clotilove]

omg he’s so worried for her…. 🥺