Top 10 Romantic Moments Between Cloud and Aerith

Whether you like meet-cutes, power couples, or the tender angst of star-crossed lovers, the Clerith romance has something for everyone. There’s a lot to choose from, but what are the most romantic scenes between Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough?

Note that this list is only for the main series so far – so no spin-offs or cameos, and only from the original 1997 game through Final Fantasy VII Remake. Stay tuned for more Clerith moments when Rebirth comes out!

10. “But I’m….. we’re here for you, right?”

In Cosmo Canyon, Aeris has fallen into an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Having just spoken with the Elders about their research into the Lifestream and the harrowing duty of the Cetra, she sits by the campfire in a depressed slump. It is one of the few moments where she lets her true feelings of isolation and anxiety be seen when her bright, cheerful front dims.

Cloud sits next to her and starts to say “But I’m here for you” – and then then stumbles his words and fumbles from “I” to “we”. The mid-sentence embarrassed swap from “I” to “we” is such a cute romance trope, and coming from someone as cool and awkward as Cloud, you can’t help but smile even in the somber and pensive atmosphere.

9. The church reunion: “How about one date?”

After their meeting on Loveless Street, it seems like a stroke of fate that they reunite in Aeris’s church after Cloud falls into her flowerbed. The gentle and mysterious atmosphere is a sharp contrast from the cyberpunk grunge and explosions of the game thus far, making players well-aware that something special is happening. Cloud himself is taken in by Aeris’s charm, and when she asks him to be her bodyguard in exchange for one date, she cinches her leading role as his love interest.

This “reunion” of Cloud and Aeris remains one of the most iconic scenes in the game, and was even recognized in Final Fantasy VII‘s 25th Anniversary official stream event in January 2022.

8. Together beyond death in Advent Children

Cloud is stricken with anguished grief after Aerith passes away. In Advent Children, he is wrought with guilt about her death and longing to see her once again. While a lot could be said about the heart-wrenching beauty of their tragic romance – such as how Cloud sleeps in Aerith’s church, how he has visions of meeting her in a flower field, how she seems to live on inside of his heart – the moment I’m choosing for this list is when her spirit extends her hand and uplifts him during the fight against Bahamut SIN. The chaos pauses, we hear Aerith’s musical motif, and it feels like a brief moment of peace during a brutal battle.

Knowing that Aerith still is with him and fighting at his side is a beautiful thing – and seeing her reflected in Cloud’s expression is particularly meaningful.

7. The Evergreen Park date

Cloud and Aeris’s break in Midori (“Evergreen”) Park was called one of the more romantic moments of the original game, and was recreated with even more heart in Final Fantasy VII: Remake. After Aeris contracts Cloud as her bodyguard, she flips the tables and offers to escort him through the dangerous Sector 6 back to AVALANCHE’s hideout in Sector 7. They stop for a break in an old playground, nestling up side-by-side and sharing a little more about one another. The developers themselves have called this a “date” between the two.

In Remake‘s version, Cloud and Aerith struggle to say good-bye and part ways. Aerith coaxes Cloud on top of the slide, and though she reminiscences about her first love, Zack, she gazes with wonder into Cloud’s own eyes. With their faces so close, it was enough to make any Clerith fan swoon.

6. Cait Sith’s wedding prediction

In Aeris’s final dungeon alongside Cloud, she asks their fortune-telling companion Cait Sith to read their compatibility as a couple. Cait Sith generates his results, and to Final Fantasy VII’s romance musical piece, Words Drowned By Fireworks, he reads:

Looks good. You are perfect for each other! Aeris’s star and Cloud’s star! They show a great future! Cloud, I’ll be your matchmaker, preacher… I’ll do whatever you want me to!

Soon after, Aeris leaves the party and is murdered by Sephiroth, which makes their reading of perfect romantic compatibility – and Cait Sith’s promise to be the officiant at their wedding – all the more emotional.

5. The Gold Saucer date

Aeris is Cloud’s default date partner in Gold Saucer, and there’s little doubt that her romantic evening with Cloud is the “official” scenario in the plot. Considered one of the game’s most memorable scenes, their date has a special legacy for fans of Final Fantasy VII. After performing in a play (in which Cloud has the option to kiss Aeris’s hand), they ride the gondola together and watch the fireworks. Aeris muses over how Cloud initially reminded her of Zack, her first love, but she asserts that they are different, and that “things are different.”

She then utters her famous line: “I want to meet you.”

While this line is special enough in English, with Aeris expressing her true desire to connect with Cloud’s inner self at a time when he’s confused about who he really is, in Japanese, the phrase (“会いたい”) carries special romantic connotations.

4. The red dress reveal

In the original game, Aeris wore a red dress during the Wallmarket sequence when she and Cloud infiltrate Don Corneo’s mansion to rescue Tifa. In Final Fantasy VII: Remake, the red dress returns in one of the game’s most overtly romantic scenes. Underneath a canopy of fireworks and confetti, Aeris walks down the aisle to a stunned Cloud like a bride at their wedding. Cloud’s eyes widen and his jaw drops, and he stumbles over his words as he tries to collect himself.

This scene, of course, takes place after a whole evening of flirty shenanigans where the pair grow closer and closer. From working together to traverse Sector 6, to their date in Midori Park, and clearing the Coliseum together as the announcers call them a “couple” every few minutes – the romantic tension has been soaring for hours. The tension is close to snapping when Aerith dons her now-iconic red dress.

3. On the Way to a Smile: “Cloud was her koibito”

Aerith may die in the original game, but she isn’t gone. In fact, she continues to maintain a conscious existence in the Lifestream to combat Sephiroth and JENOVA, as well as watch over Cloud. Her visage is seen in Advent Children, and she speaks a few lines. But insight into what she is actually thinking is revealed in Nojima’s Advent Children-adjacent novel, On the Way to a Smile.

Aerith is the third-person narrator for the three “Lifestream White” segments – each of which centers around her feelings for Cloud. In it, Aerith drops one of the most romantic lines in Final Fantasy history:

[direct Japanese translation] Cloud was [Aerith]’s friend, her lover – he represented something precious, an existence that she must protect.

[Official English version] Cloud was her friend. More than a friend, for she had loved him. He was a symbol of everything she held dear. She would protect him.

There is heart-shattering irony to Aerith vowing to protect Cloud, whom she is in love with, even though Cloud was the one who was supposed to be her bodyguard.

2. Aerith and Cloud’s “Resolution”

In Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Cloud will meet one of his party members in the garden during Chapter 14. While there is equal chance it could be Tifa, only the “Resolution” with Aerith appears in the end credits, suggesting it holds special weight to the game’s narrative.

While Aerith is physically imprisoned in Shinra HQ, her spirit visits Cloud at night. She seems to try to dissuade him from saving her, and initially brushes him off with gentle teasing that lacks her usual cheer. Then, the biggest kicker: she tells him he can’t fall in love with her, and if he has, it isn’t real anyway. As fans of the romance genre well know, whenever this line is uttered in any fictional setting, it means the recipient will or already is in love.

Cloud’s agonized reaction – first, a hurt facial expression, an attempt to grab her hand, and then a retort that he should be the one to decide if his feelings are real – prove she’s too late to make any request of that sort; Cloud’s already in love with her. Aerith herself seems to be trying to spare him the pain of her fateful demise; she too already loves him.

Cloud’s final words to her are a vow that he’s coming for her. Aerith, though she pained herself to try to cut him off, admits she’s glad to hear it.

1. The Lifestream hand-reach

Topping this list is the ending of Final Fantasy VII. After Cloud has defeated Sephiroth in the Northern Crater, he is surrounded by glowing tendrils of magical Lifestream. Sensing her presence (just as we, the audience, do when the motif of “Aeris’s Theme” begins to play), Cloud extends his hand into the air. From the light above, we see Aeris’s hand reaching back down toward him.

The vision ends before Cloud’s hand can grasp hers, but as he comes back to the physical world, he tells Tifa that he understands about the Promised Land now – and he thinks he can reunite with Aeris there. For a tragic romance, this mysterious realization on Cloud’s part offers a seed of optimism that in some world or another, Cloud and Aeris will be together again.

Did I miss any?

Did your favorite Clerith moments make the list? Share your thoughts in the comments!