Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a veritable feast for the Clerith fans. Picking five romantic moments proved impossible, so did ten. Even 15 romantic moments between Cloud and Aerith wasn’t easy, but through science and peer-reviewed research, here are the top romantic moments between Cloud and Aerith in the entire game.
15. The Nibelheim Water Tower
This scene, which writer Nojima recently said was one of his favorites, is a beautiful moment of vulnerability for Aerith. Upon revisiting Nibelheim, Cloud can talk to each of his companions. Aerith is found sitting atop the water tower, and invites him to reminisce about seeing Tifa in the window. Her mood then dampens as she considers how she has no childhood friends to share memories with. Cloud invites her to share her feelings, even if she’s angry, and so much as tells her that he doesn’t mind if she lashes out at him. It’s incredible to see how much Cloud has grown since the beginning of his journey, and how candidly empathetic and supportive he has become – especially with Aerith.
14. Posing in the Couples Photography Contest
During the Chapter 14 dream date, Cloud initiates them joining a photography contest for couples, in which a several pairs of lovers compete for a commemorative photo by posing as cutely as possible. Cloud and Aerith have several pose options, though their sweetest is certainly the “dance hold” – where Cloud dips Aerith down as they were in a ballroom and not the slums. The animation is smooth and Cloud, who is notoriously off-balance and awkward around Aerith, doesn’t miss a beat.
13. The Costa del Sol Date
Imagine: an entire sidequest in the beach resort town of Costa del Sol literally dedicated to a date between Cloud and Aerith! The premise is a trio of fashion designers are looking for inspiration in lovers, so pegged Cloud and Aerith, who look like the perfect couple, as their muses. One even notes that Aerith is the sort of girl who takes charge (a line in Japanese that directly mimics the kind of girl Cloud’s mother Claudia said was the perfect partner for him.) Over their date, Cloud and Aerith play mini-games, explore town, and look for seashells on chocobo-back. The date is filled with adorable banter between the pair (and Aerith running flirtatious circles around Cloud, who, as he admits, is bad at dates.)
12. Holding Hands During the Dream Date
After Aerith compels Cloud with her power of cuteness to give her a gift, she takes his hand as they make their way to the next stall. This isn’t unusual for Aerith, but unlike previous iterations, she does not pull him along – instead, she walks with him side-by-side. Between the second and third stop on their date, they hold hands again – and this time, Cloud himself meets Aerith’s hand in the middle. Incredibly, his behavior here isn’t even optional or based on the game’s affection mechanic – Cloud will always take Aerith’s hand to hold.
11. Flirting in the Ending
Rebirth’s ending is painful, confusing, and sorrowful just as it is optimistic and hopeful. Aerith is present, but to what extent? Is she a ghost, a delusion, or a very-much-alive presence from an overlapping alternate world that only Cloud can see? Nonetheless, the last lines in the game are for Cloud and Aerith. Cloud assures her that he will beat Sephiroth, and shares concern for her – asking if she’ll be okay getting back on her own. Aerith jokes about what Cloud would do if she said she wasn’t – calling back to their adorable dialogue from Remake in Evergreen Park. The line makes Cloud smile, and his happiness at perceiving her as alive and well is as heart-warming as it is ominous.
10. Playing Rosa and Alphreid in LOVELESS
Sure, they are just acting in a play, but the parallels between Rosa and Alphreid and Aerith and Cloud’s own story is doubtlessly intentional. Aerith is all but assured to be the “canon” Rosa, though the role can be played by Tifa or Yuffie in their respective dates. But when Aerith plays the role of the princess mage, it feels right. Notice the parallels to Rosa putting her hand on Alphreid’s cheek just as Aerith did in her resolution scene in Remake? Or how they embrace in the ending, just as Aerith and Cloud do in the church? And of course, how they are forced to part ways in the end – making no promises but knowing in their hearts they will reunite once again.
9. Cloud Encouraging Aerith at the River of Lights
Aerith’s demeanor is almost always cheerful and fun-loving, but the armor of her smile hides a lot of pain and loneliness. There are a few moments in Remake where she is vulnerable about her brutal past, and one such moment is at the lantern festival in Cosmo Canyon. After so many years of growing up alienated, isolated, picked apart, and even hated because of her Cetra heritage, she speaks about her life as an Ancient to a crowd of spiritual onlookers. Though she admits to suffering because of her blood, she also insists it has brought her joy – namely, her beloved friends.
Cloud is giving the option to encourage her when she falters during her speech, and her smile is rewarding. Afterwards, Aerith watches the lanterns float into the sky, and Cloud comes to stand by her – while a new rendition of her beautifully iconic theme song harps in the background.
8. Heart-to-Heart on the Beach
Another moment when Aerith opens up about the darker feelings behind her cheerful mask is on the beach of Costa del Sol. An encounter with Professor Hojo has shaken her – after all, he’s the man who kidnapped her and made her his lab specimen for years. She admits that sometimes she thinks about what she might do to him, and is frightened by her dark thoughts. “They’re just thoughts. Let ’em be dark ‘n’ ugly,” Cloud says. “You’re not. What I’m tryin’ to say is.. worry about the future when it comes. You’ll know what to do. And whatever you decide, I’m with you.”
Cloud’s response is so genuinely caring and supportive – quite a departure from his colder, cooler facade in the beginning of the Remake trilogy. Aerith is cheered, and tells Cloud to be on the lookout for her future self – the woman she aims to become. “Can’t say when you’ll meet,” she says. “But trust me, you’ll love her.” Honey, he already does.
7. Cloud’s Sneaking Photos of Aerith in Cosmo Canyon
During a Cosmo Canyon sidequest, Cloud and Aerith take photos of celestial phenomenon – colorful stars in the sky. On the second to last stop, Cloud turns the camera to Aerith and can sneak several photos of her as she prays. On the final stop, Aerith will tease him about grabbing those secret photos of her, and then the pair take a selfie together. It’s touching on multiple levels – not only because it’s an adorably flirty moment between Cloud and Aerith, but Cloud having photos of Aerith – and even a selfie of them together! – that he can keep when (or if?) she dies is a thought that can make a puddle out of even the iciest of hearts.
6. Cloud Taking Aerith’s Hand in the Gondola
Cloud’s date with Aerith in the gondola is a near perfect recreation of their iconic date from the original game. Like in 1997, Aerith admits that she was first drawn to Cloud because he reminded her of her first love, Zack, but indicates now that Cloud is the one she wants to be with. The date is full of sweet moments: Aerith helping Cloud onto the gondola and Cloud extending his hand in turn to help her off. A moment when the gondola spins and they fall into one another’s arms, nearly kissing. But it’s when Cloud – nervous and off-balance as ever around Aerith’s flirtations – musters the courage to take her hand in his own and squeeze it that we see just how deep the romance of the scene goes. For Cloud, whose true self is awkward when it comes to matters of love, asserting his feelings with such a gesture is perfectly in-character, and Aerith’s delighted smile as they sit there against the backdrop of fireworks is a heart-thumper.
5. “Whatever Happens, I’m Here For You”
Cloud is under Sephiroth’s control in the finale of Chapter 13, and is chasing Aerith on the heights above a ruined Temple of the Ancients to retrieve the cursed Black Materia. Aerith runs as he pursues her, but finally, her resolve seems to harden. She looks at Cloud and utters these poignant and touching words – no matter how dark the abyss into which Cloud falls, Aerith is with him. She then relinquishes the Black Materia, and having achieved his prize, Sephiroth commands the Whispers to knock Aerith off the ledge. The sight of Aerith in peril causes Cloud to snap out of Sephiroth’s control – something he wasn’t able to do even when he was forced to nearly murder Tifa earlier in the game – and jumps off with her, grabbing Aerith and holding her close. The pair fall together into the final act of the game.
4. Cloud Holding Aerith at the Forgotten Altar
The extent of Cloud’s feelings for Aerith are most upfront when she’s killed before his eyes. Though a violent and heart-wrenching scene, Aerith’s death in the original game underscores just how deeply ingrained in Cloud’s heart Aerith was: he grabs her body before she can hit the ground and cradles it, lost to emotion, even as his greatest enemy stands there beside him. Rebirth‘s version is even more perplexing, as Cloud has seemingly saved Aerith in another world, but as the worlds converge according to Sephiroth’s plan, Cloud’s reality shifts back and forth to one where he has saved her, and one where she lies dead and bloody in his arms, tears streaming down his face and silently uttering lines of loss.
Aerith seems to awaken and press her hand to his cheek, which Cloud grabs to hold. While it’s unclear what exactly has transpired – and we may not find out for sure until the final installment of the trilogy – Cloud’s love for Aerith is raw and weeping against her loss.
3. Cloud Holding the Petal To His Heart While Aerith Sings
Cloud watching Aerith sing No Promises to Keep, the game’s title song, is a sight of its own to behold. His awe-filled eyes as her voice rings out with lyrics about taking her hand and meeting again tells a story of its own – not only against the backdrop of the LOVELESS play, in which Princess Rosa and Alphreid are lovers forced to part ways, but against Cloud and Aerith’s story in Final Fantasy VII itself.
At one point, Aerith’s song causes a flurry of petals from her yellow lilies to flutter in the air. Remember, as per the first game, they are a symbol of reunion – even specifically lovers meeting again. Cloud catches a petal in his hand and grasps it in his fist, then puts it against his heart and exhales before meeting Aerith’s gaze directly. It’s a silent gesture, but as bold as affirming “I love you” in words.
2. The Embrace in the Church
As the finale of their dream date, Aerith challenges Cloud to take her to “their spot.” Both the player and Cloud guess it right away as the church where they first reunited. Cloud challenges her to give him a harder challenge next time – a thinly-masked invitation to go on another date. In a high-affection version of the next line, Cloud will enthusiastically double-down that he wants to go out again, and in a lower affection version, he will fumble awkwardly, but the end result is the same. Aerith confesses her feelings to Cloud and then hugs him – and no matter what your affection score with Aerith was, Cloud returns the hug – and thus, her feelings.
1. The Lovers’ Handhold
After they fight Sephiroth together (and really, being a badass power couple taking on the final boss is pretty damn romantic in its own way), Cloud and Aerith stand, back-to-back, in homage from their scene in the World of Pure White from Advent Children. This time, though, their hands meet one another. Without a look, their fingers interlock and they hold each other’s hand, camera panning close.
In Japan, the way Cloud and Aerith hold hands is called 恋人つなぎ – literally, the “lovers’ hold,” referring to holding hands with interlocking fingers. It’s a recognizable romance trope for couples – though really, anyone outside Japan can tell that the intimacy of Cloud entwining his fingers with Aerith is the most romantic thing he’s ever done (and no, this scene is not optional, either!)
Earth & Sky: A Cloud x Aeris Love Story 