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Cloud is a young man with a lean and toned build and spiky blond hair. Cloud has blue eyes, which glow due to him having been exposed to mako. Because "mako eyes" are iconic to members of SOLDIER, Cloud is often assumed to be one. Cloud carries a large broadsword as his weapon of choice, with his three trademark weapons being the Buster Sword (a massive sword over five feet long), a set of Fusion Swords (six individual interconnecting swords that form one similar to the Buster Sword), and the Hardedge (another large broadsword with a different shape). He also has a silver earring in his left ear.

Cloud's typical outfit is a variation standard uniform for a SOLDIER, seen first in Final Fantasy VII and most commonly throughout his appearances (with slight variations). This uniform comprises of indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt and a belt. Cloud also wears brown boots, gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder, and a SOLDIER band in his right wrist. Unlike the default uniform, his is customized to exclude the right shoulder pauldron, likely to make it easier to draw his sword from behind him, while his left pauldron remains, albeit with protruding screws and bolts due to makeshift repairs. He also wears a gear-like armlet on his left forearm.

Cloud Strife is a major protagonist in the Final Fantasy VII series. He is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. He also appears in numerous entries of the Final Fantasy VII series as a supporting character, including Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. An arrogant and proud swordsman at first, Cloud introduces himself to Avalanche as a former member of an elite warrior unit called SOLDIER who has turned mercenary and is uninterested in anything beyond his hired task at hand. Beneath his hardened outer persona is a softer, more caring individual who simply struggles to open up, but is striving to be a hero. Cloud later discovers more about his past and, with the help of his friends, learns that there is more to being a hero than possessing physical strength and fame. He develops compassion for the planet and the people he fights to protect from the Shinra Electric Power Company and his nemesis, Sephiroth. Cloud Strife wields large broadswords in battle, including the iconic Buster Sword, and is a versatile melee combatant. In Final Fantasy VII, he has access to the most powerful weapons in the game, as well as the strongest Limit abilities (all of which involve his sword), though they take the longest to learn. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud's strength is in his raw damage output and his versatility, able to switch back-and-forth between the agile Operator Mode and the more offensive Punisher Mode that allows him to counterattack. In both titles, Cloud has the best all-around stats. Cloud was born on August 11, 1986[1][3][4] in the mountain village of Nibelheim to Claudia Strife; his father died when Cloud was very young.[9] Cloud lived next door to a girl a year younger than him, Tifa Lockhart, and was excluded from her friendship group. Bitter as a result, Cloud developed a superiority complex, believing that her friends were stupid and that he was more mature and different from them. He did not harbor any dislike for Tifa, but suspected that she disliked him. Tifa's mother died when Cloud was nine. Not wanting to accept it, Tifa insisted that she could meet her by crossing Mt. Nibel, taking her friends along. Unbeknownst to them, Cloud followed her and, when she took a misstep, he tried to catch her, but they both fell. Though he was unharmed, Tifa was severely injured and in a coma for seven days. Her father, Brian Lockhart, blamed Cloud and forbade him from approaching her. He too blamed himself for failing to save her, harboring guilt in the form of increasing anger at himself, leading him to start fights for little to no reason. Cloud resolved to better himself and, upon learning of Sephiroth and his exploits, set out to join SOLDIER and become a hero, hoping that Tifa would notice him.[10] In December 0000, he called Tifa out to the water tower in the center of town to tell her about his departure, hoping to impress her. Tifa encouraged Cloud that he could make the newspapers and asked him to promise to save her should she ever find herself in trouble.[11][12] The following spring of 0001,[4] Cloud left for Midgar to join the Shinra Electric Power Company. Despite his bravado, Cloud failed to make it into SOLDIER, enlisting as a mere Shinra infantryman instead. Out of embarrassment and shame, he cut off contact with everyone from Nibelheim.[10] As told in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, on June 28, 0001, Cloud was among those ordered to protect Professor Rayleigh in Midgar from the insurgency organization Avalanche. Though he was unsuccessful, their lives were saved by the Player Turk. During the incident, Cloud displayed impressive sword skills for a regular infantryman.[13] In autumn of that year, during chapter 5 of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Cloud met Zack Fair, a SOLDIER First Class, on their way to Modeoheim. The two bonded upon learning that they were both "country boys". When he and Zack infiltrated the Mako Excavation Facility, they encountered Genesis Rhapsodos and Dr. Hollander, former Shinra employees who had since turned against the company. When Hollander attempted to escape, Cloud briefly captured him, though Hollander broke free. Cloud gave pursuit, but both he and Tseng—the leader of the Turks—were taken down by the rogue SOLDIER First Class, Angeal Hewley. In September 0002, depicted in chapter 6 of Crisis Core, a sixteen-year-old Cloud met Zack again while protecting the city of Junon from Genesis' attack. On September 22 of that year (depicted in "The Tragedy of Five Years Ago" in Final Fantasy VII, chapter 8 of Crisis Core, and other media), Cloud returned to Nibelheim along with Zack and Sephiroth to investigate a damaged mako reactor on Mt. Nibel and with Tifa as their guide through the mountains. During this time, Cloud hid his identity from the townspeople, ashamed of his failure to join SOLDIER, though he did visit his mother, who asked about his new life with Shinra, after asking Zack to accompany him. When the expedition reached the reactor, Sephiroth discovered Professor Hojo's experiments with humans, which mutated them into monsters dubbed makonoids, and Jenova, whom Sephiroth mistakenly believed to be his mother. Genesis knocked Cloud out and Tifa helped him back into town, though she still did not discover his identity. When Cloud regained consciousness, he was depressed over his lack of strength.[16] Sephiroth locked himself in the Shinra Manor's basement for several sleepless days, immersing in Professor Gast Faremis' writings, and discovered his dark past, as well the secrets regarding the Cetra and the promised land. On October 1, Sephiroth destroyed the village on a rampage (the Nibelheim Incident), fueled by his newfound hatred for humanity.[10][16][9]

Cloud witnessed his mother's death in the ensuing fire and rushed back to the reactor to confront Sephiroth, finding both a gravely wounded Tifa and a barely conscious Zack. Cloud picked up Zack's Buster Sword, caught Sephiroth offguard in the reactor core, and impaled him, also giving a speech demanding that Sephiroth return Tifa, his mother, and Nibelheim, while lamenting that he used to respect him, before attending to Tifa. When a wounded Sephiroth emerged from the reactor core, Cloud attacked him, intent on avenging the deaths of his mother and all of the townspeople Sephiroth had killed. Though impaled on Sephiroth's Masamune, Cloud summoned the strength to overpower him with sheer willpower. Using the katana as a lever, Cloud lifted Sephiroth up and hurled him into the mako pit below before collapsing. Cloud and Zack, as well as the other survivors in the town (with the exception of Tifa, who was rescued by Zangan before Shinra arrived), became Professor Hojo's test subjects. Injecting them with Jenova's cells and exposing them to mako, Hojo attempted to test his Jenova Reunion Theory on them, turning them into Sephiroth-clones, people whose wills can be over-ridden by Sephiroth's. Since Zack had gone through a similar process in SOLDIER, his body resisted the experiments, while Cloud succumbed and developed a severe case of mako poisoning. Hojo labeled the two failures, placed them in a cryogenic sleeping state, and left them in their pods in the Shinra Manor basement. Four years later, on December 19, 0006 (depicted in an optional flashback in Final Fantasy VII and chapter 9 of Crisis Core), Zack broke out of his confinement and helped a vegetative Cloud escape, giving him a SOLDIER uniform to wear as his old clothes were soaked with mako. Due to the experiments, Cloud was mentally broken, weak, and delirious, but during their journey following the escape from Nibelheim, Zack told the unresponsive Cloud about his life and his plans for both of them to become mercenaries in Midgar.[17] Though Cloud was unable to participate in the events, he was present when Zack defeated Genesis (depicted in chapter 10 of Crisis Core).

After almost a year of running, the pair arrived outside Midgar in September 0007. Shinra forces caught up to them and Zack fought to defend both Cloud and himself against overwhelming numbers. Zack was gunned down, but the Shinra forces ignored the catatonic Cloud. Cloud regained some awareness and crawled over to Zack, who entrusted the Buster Sword to him, stating that his legacy will live on inside Cloud, before dying. Buster Sword in hand, Cloud trudged off towards Midgar. As a result of the trauma caused by the Nibelheim Incident, his mako poisoning (and subsequent infusion of Jenova cells), and Zack's death, Cloud impressed Zack's memories and fighting abilities into his own. This, along with Tifa's memory of him and his own ideal image of himself as a SOLDIER, created a new set of memories with an accompanying persona. As such, Cloud was led to believe that he had joined SOLDIER and was Sephiroth's partner in place of Zack and, in his own memories, he took Zack's place; in his distorted memories, Zack never existed.[10][9]

In late 0007, Tifa found Cloud mumbling deliriously at the Sector 7 slums train station. Though he became lucid upon recognizing her, his inconsistent memories and mental breakdowns concerned her. Tifa recruited him as a mercenary to her group, an Avalanche cell led by Barret Wallace, while concealing information about his past due to doubting her own memories, wishing to find out the truth herself.[19][10] In "No. 1 Reactor Bombing", Cloud helped the group, comprising of Barret, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie Rasberry, attack Mako Reactor 1 on December 9, 0007. Throughout the mission, Cloud claimed to be working only for money, angering Barret and leading him to question his loyalties. Despite having a brief mental breakdown at the reactor core, Cloud planted the bomb and the mission was successful.[20] After the mission, in "At the Hideout in the Slums", Cloud returned to Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, in the Sector 7 slums, which was being used as Barret's headquarters. Following a dispute with Barret, who suspected Cloud of remaining loyal to Shinra, Cloud attempted to walk out. However, Tifa reminded him of the promise he made to her after he decided to join SOLDIER and convinced Barret to hire him for another mission.[11]

Barret led another mission to destroy Mako Reactor 5, this time with Tifa joining them, in "To the No. 5 Reactor". Though they reached the core and planted the bomb, while escaping, President Shinra confronted the group after revealing that they were caught in a trap. Cloud was separated from the others during the explosion of the mako reactor and fell into the Sector 5 slums church, commencing "The Woman at the Church". Cloud formally met Aerith Gainsborough, a flower merchant whom he had earlier ran into in Sector 8 after the first bombing. Cloud agreed to become her bodyguard in exchange for a date after Reno, a Turk, attempted to capture her.

Cloud stayed at the house of her foster mother, Elmyra Gainsborough, who believed that he was dangerous and asked him to go back to Sector 7 without telling Aerith. However, Aerith came with him regardless. On the way, the two spotted Tifa being taken to Wall Market on her mission to extract information out of Don Corneo, commencing "To Corneo Hall". On Aerith's advice, Cloud disguised himself as a woman so the two could enter the Don's mansion and the three interrogated him. Corneo revealed that Shinra had tracked Avalanche's base to Sector 7 and planned to destroy it by dropping the Sector 7 plate before dropping the three into the sewers through a trap door. In "Prevent the Fall of the Plate", Cloud traversed the sewers and the train graveyard with Tifa and Aerith to reach Sector 7. Tifa requested that Aerith find Barret's daughter, Marlene Wallace, and keep her safe while she and Cloud ran up the pillar. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were defeated, but Cloud and Tifa met up with Barret atop the plate. Even after battling Reno, they were unsuccessful in saving the pillar, as the Turks destroyed Sector 7 and captured Aerith.

In "Aeris's Secret", Cloud, Barret, and Tifa returned to Elmyra's house, where Marlene was staying, and Elmyra told them of Aerith's past as a Cetra. In "Storming the Shinra Building", Cloud led an attack on the Shinra Building to rescue Aerith from Professor Hojo, where he met Red XIII and saw Jenova's headless remains in the lab. While trying to escape, the group was captured and imprisoned, commencing "The Nightmare Beginning Anew", when Cloud awoke to find the prison doors open and the guards dead. Cloud, Aerith, Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII followed a trail of blood to find President Shinra killed. Rufus Shinra, President Shinra's son and the new head of the company, arrived shortly after and Cloud battled him to buy the others time to escape, with Tifa staying behind to help. Cloud escaped Midgar on a Hardy-Daytona motorcycle, with Tifa riding a Shinra Hauler SA-37 pick-up to help them flee Midgar. Shortly after leaving Midgar, the group reunited at an inn in Kalm, where Cloud told his version of what happened on the day Nibelheim was burned, with himself in Zack's place. Tifa remained mostly silent and Barret struggled to believe the account.[9] The next day, the group set out to track down Sephiroth, first through the Mythril Mine, where they learned from the Turks that Sephiroth was headed for Junon. Cloud and the group sneaked into the city, where he saved a girl named Priscilla from a monster, and they were allowed to stay over. In his sleep, a voice told Cloud to ask Tifa about the time he returned to Nibelheim, but Tifa dodged the question when he did.[21] After a welcoming for Rufus, Cloud and the party stowed away on a cargo ship bound for Costa del Sol.

The pursuit of Sephiroth led them through North Corel and the Gold Saucer, where, after resolving an incident, the manager, Dio, gave Cloud and his friends a buggy to assist them in their travels and Cait Sith joined their cause. The buggy broke down, forcing the group to stay at Red XIII's hometown, Cosmo Canyon, where Red XIII's grandfather, the Elder Bugenhagen, revealed critical information about the planet and the lifestream and how Shinra's drilling for mako affects them.[22] When the group reached Nibelheim, they found the town rebuilt and inhabited by imposter villagers hired by Shinra,[23] who claimed to have no recollection of either Cloud or Tifa or the town ever having been burned down, greatly distressing Cloud and casting doubt on his story.[24]

Sephiroth appeared in the basement of the Shinra Manor and alluded to a "reunion" that Cloud should attend.[24] After being joined by Vincent Valentine, Cloud and the group crossed Mt. Nibel and visited Rocket Town, where they escaped on Cid Highwind's plane, only to have it shot down by Shinra soldiers. Adding Cid to their roster of allies, the group returned to Gold Saucer and claimed the Keystone from Dio. Cloud and the group stayed the night when the trolley to the park broke down, during which Cloud went out with a party member. Cait Sith, who turned out to be a Shinra spy, stole the Keystone and turned it over to Tseng of the Turks, but blackmailed the others to let him stay with them.[25]

Traveling to the Temple of the Ancients, the party found Tseng gravely wounded after a struggle with Sephiroth. In the heart of the temple, Cloud found Sephiroth, who revealed his plan to perform the Ultimate Black Magic, calling down Meteor to deal a critical wound to the planet to absorb the lifestream that would well up to heal it, becoming god. Sephiroth left as Cloud discovered the temple itself is the Black Materia needed to summon Meteor. Cait Sith sacrificed his body (though he had a backup available) to get the Black Materia, but Sephiroth returned. The Jenova cells inside Cloud from Hojo's previous experiments on him gave Sephiroth control over him, causing Cloud to hand over the Black Materia, then attack Aerith, before his friends knocked him out.[26]

While unconscious, Aerith appeared to Cloud in a dream, telling him to let her handle Sephiroth. When Cloud regained consciousness in Gongaga, Barret and Tifa told him that Aerith had left and assured him that they would be there to help him should he have another breakdown. Cloud resolved to find Aerith and guided them as he knew where she had gone, first through the Sleeping Forest, then to the City of the Ancients. He found her praying at an altar in the center of the city's underground complex. Cloud approached her with the Buster Sword and attempted to attack her until his friends yelled at him to stop. Sephiroth descended from above the altar and killed Aerith, impaling her with his Masamune. Cloud mourned her passing with the party and laid her body to rest in the lake, despairing at how Sephiroth could control his actions. Arriving at the North Crater, the party regained the Black Materia and Cloud gave it to a party member as he did not trust himself. However, Sephiroth appeared and showed Cloud a partial vision of what really happened at Nibelheim, revealing Zack's presence in his stead, but not Cloud's true part in the events. Shinra arrived and Professor Hojo revealed his Jenova Reunion Theory that involved Cloud and how his drive to hunt for Sephiroth was fueled by the Jenova cells in his body summoning him to the "reunion". The shock of Cloud's fabricated past shattered his mind, as he came to believe that he was created by Hojo and that even his name and memories of being Tifa's childhood friend belonged to someone else. Sephiroth used an illusion to convince the party to give the Black Materia back to Cloud, who promptly handed it to Sephiroth's true body, which was stored in the crater. Cloud apologized to Tifa for not living up to the "real" Cloud and the crater shook, with Cloud falling into the lifestream.[28]

Surfacing in Mideel a week later, Cloud had been subjected to intense mako poisoning within the lifestream, leaving him paralyzed and incoherent, in a state similar to when Zack rescued him from Shinra Manor a year before. Tifa found him and stayed to care for him while the rest of the party fought Shinra.[29] Ultimate Weapon, one of the Weapons released by the planet to protect it, later attacked Mideel, causing Tifa and Cloud to fall into the lifestream and into Cloud's subconscious. Amid trying to ascertain Cloud's true memories, they became aware of the thoughts and feelings each was holding.[30] Tifa helped repair Cloud's psyche by comparing their memories to find which were true, allowing him to piece his true self together. Restored to his true self, Cloud resumed command of the Highwind and the party, no longer plagued by an inner voice, and finally accepting the truth about who he is.[10]

Shinra's attempt to destroy the Meteor with Huge Materia failed, but Cloud's party was trapped in the Shinra No. 26 rocket when it took off. While in the escape pod on their way back to the planet, the party marveled how small the planet was in the vastness of space, reaffirming their conviction to protect it. With Bugenhagen's guidance, they discovered that Aerith had summoned the ultimate white magic spell, Holy, before Sephiroth killed her. Holy could stop Meteor, but Sephiroth was holding it back.[31]

Diamond Weapon attacked Midgar while Hojo tried to relaunch the Sister Ray to give Sephiroth a boost of energy. Cloud and the party stopped Diamond Weapon and defeated Hojo. Preparing to go to the North Crater to stop Sephiroth, Cloud asked everyone to leave and find a reason to fight. Tifa remained as she had nothing left outside of the party and her quest and she and Cloud spent a night under the stars.[32]

Cloud led a descent through the Northern Cave to the depths of the planet to confront Sephiroth. After Sephiroth's new god-like form was defeated, his mind was sent back into the lifestream. Cloud, sensing that Sephiroth was not dead, followed him mentally into the lifestream and defeated Sephiroth in a final duel of wills. He returned to his body with help from Aerith. Cloud and the party escaped the crater on the Highwind moments before Holy emerged to destroy Meteor. The Meteor's proximity caused Holy to hold back its full power, but Aerith commanded the lifestream to push Meteor back so Holy may destroy it and save the planet. In "The Destruction of Mako Reactor 1", Cloud helped Barret, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie Rasberry plant a bomb by escorting them into the reactor and battling Shinra's security forces. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were enthusiastic about his involvement, though Cloud disappointed them in claiming that it was a "onetime gig" and that he had no intention of joining Avalanche's cause.[35] Cloud remained indifferent over the plight of the planet, angering Barret. Though Cloud had been hired to do all of the fighting, Barret joined against ranged targets and because he did not trust Cloud.[36] Unbeknownst to them, Shinra watched their every move via security cameras and the bomb they detonated did minimal damage; instead, Shinra set up a chain reaction in the mako storage. Cloud and the others successfully fled the exploding reactor. Cloud and the group went through a chaotic Sector 8 on their way back, with civilian casualties and destruction caused by the explosion of Reactor 1, thus commencing "Fateful Encounters". The group split up to regroup at the train station, though Cloud was separated after an encounter with an apparition of Sephiroth. Sephiroth taunted Cloud, reminding him of the destruction of Nibelheim that he had caused, and told him to run away for the sake of the planet.[37]

After the illusion ended, Cloud ran into Aerith Gainsborough, seeing her attacked by the invisible Whispers. Aerith offered him a flower and thanked him for "scaring those things away", confusing Cloud. He warned her that he was involved in dangerous things, but she seemed unfazed. The Whispers returned and Aerith grabbed Cloud's hand, allowing him to see the mysterious beings. Aerith ran away when Cloud was attacked by Shinra Public Security Division soldiers.[38] Cloud fought his way through them to reach the train.

Cloud returned to the Sector 7 slums, commencing "Home Sweet Slum", and reunited with Tifa. Cloud gave her the flower, much to her surprise, and she showed him to a room she had secured for him at Stargazer Heights.[39] Cloud's room was next to Tifa, but also an ill man named Marco, who kept Cloud up. Upon investigating, Cloud saw another vision of Sephiroth and pulled his sword on Marco before Tifa intervened and asked him to check up on Marco later.[40] The next day, Tifa gave Cloud a tour of the slums while collecting money to pay Cloud's fee and urged him to make a name for himself as a mercenary by helping out the locals. Cloud and Tifa completed many requests before returning to Tifa's apartment to relax. She asked Cloud about what happened after he left Nibelheim, but Cloud gave ambiguous answers and was uncomfortable, prompting her to change the subject and they decide to celebrate in fancy dress soon. While out in the slums, Cloud and Tifa saw Shinra arrest a local named Johnny and pursued the matter to stop him from talking about Avalanche to Shinra. After rescuing Johnny, Cloud pulled a sword on him, terrifying Tifa as she pleaded for him to spare Johnny.[42] Shortly after, Barret called for a meeting, excluding Cloud. Afterwards, Tifa told Cloud that she felt trapped, as she disagreed morally with the bombings, but firmly believed that Shinra should be opposed. Cloud advised her to stand down if it felt wrong. Because Barret did not want to hire Cloud for the next mission,[43] Cloud left and was confronted by hoodlums asking after Barret, but he refused to disclose any information and fought them off.[44] Later, Jessie appeared by his apartment to hire him for a personal mission.

In "Mad Dash", Cloud helped Jessie travel to upper Sector 7 to procure a new blasting agent for her next bomb, Jessie still being under the belief that she had accidentally made the previous bomb more devastating than intended. Cloud fought a Third Class SOLDIER, Roche, who enjoyed battling Cloud. Cloud recalled the promise he had made to Tifa at the water tower in Nibelheim years ago, where she had asked him to help her should she ever be "trapped or in trouble"; Cloud realized that she had indirectly been asking for him to fulfill this promise when she had told him earlier that she felt trapped with Avalanche.[12] After returning to the slums, Jessie asked Cloud out on a date, promising to make him pizza if he came over the following night.[45]

The next morning, Whispers attacked the Sector 7 slums and Cloud and Tifa attempted to fight them off, but Jessie was injured. This prompted Barret to hire Cloud for the mission to attack Mako Reactor 5, which Cloud agreed to in exchange for a raise.[46] In "Dogged Pursuit", Cloud, Barret, and Tifa boarded the train to Sector 4, though an ID scan forced them to abandon the train mid route. The trio made their way through the Corkscrew Tunnel to the underside of the Sector 4 plate, commencing "Light the Way", in which they operated machinery to make their way through the plate to reach the reactor.

In "A Trap Is Sprung", Cloud infiltrated the reactor with Barret and Tifa. The path to plant the remote bomb was smooth sailing, but Cloud briefly flashed back to seeing Tifa despair at the Nibel Reactor years earlier, but did not bring it up with her.[47] Shortly after planting the bomb, Shinra executive Heidegger revealed that cameras were broadcasting them on live TV and that they were to be publicly executed by one of his robots, the Airbuster. Cloud and the others sabotaged the deployment of the mech and worked together to escape before being confronted by a hologram of President Shinra outside the reactor. The president took notice of Cloud's mako eyes, concluding that he must be a SOLDIER and, therefore, his property, before telling the others that he planned to smear Avalanche as a proxy group funded by Wutai. Tifa reacted in disgust and remarked "I'm sick of this", which caused Cloud to recall the flashback he had earlier and remark internally that it was when he had failed her. Cloud and the others destroyed Airbuster, though Cloud was separated from the group; Barret admitted that he was wrong about him before Cloud fell from the railings. Cloud landed in the Sector 5 slums church, commencing "Budding Bodyguard", where he met Aerith again, who, this time, formally introduced herself. The Turk Reno arrived to kidnap her and Aerith asked Cloud to be her bodyguard, offering one date in exchange.[49] Cloud defeated Reno and attempted to kill him before the Whispers guided their escape from the church. The two journeyed to Aerith's home, where she lived with her foster mother, Elmyra Gainsborough, and Cloud helped Aerith by doing odd jobs for the locals and saving her from Rude, another Turk who was after Aerith. They met another delirious man in a dark cloak, whom Cloud momentarily hallucinated as Sephiroth. That night, Elmyra allowed Cloud to stay, but asked him to leave Aerith, fearing that he was dangerous as an ex-SOLDIER.

In "The Town That Never Sleeps", while leaving to the Sector 7 slums, Aerith waited for Cloud, having anticpated that he was going to leave without her.[50] She gave him a tour through the Sector 6 slums while guiding him to Sector 7 and took him through the Collapsed Expressway. Cloud reminded Aerith of her first love, who was in the same rank in SOLDIER as him, but Cloud's vision went blurry and his ears rang as she said his name.[51] Just as they were about to leave, Cloud saw Tifa on a chocobo cart headed to Wall Market and caught up with her. Tifa was relieved to see Cloud and told him that she planned to see Don Corneo, encouraging Cloud to return to the others. Cloud obliged at first, confident in Tifa's ability to take care of herself in a pinch, but Aerith warned him that Corneo was incredibly dangerous and Tifa would need his help, convincing him to look for her.[52]

Chocobo Sam had arranged for Tifa to be Corneo's next "bride" in that night's audition, warning that Cloud and Aerith would likely not see her again.[52] They learned from Leslie Kyle that the Don only accepted entrants endorsed by the influential slum dwellers who run Wall Market, known as the "trio", one of which was Sam, who was uninterested in helping them. The two won an endorsement for Aerith from Madam M by winning the Corneo Cup tournament at the Corneo Colosseum, Madam M promising to give Aerith an outfit in exchange for the prize money.[53] Cloud attracted the attention of Andrea Rhodea with his battle prowess, who wished to meet him in person;[54] Cloud performed at Rhodea's Honeybee Inn and Rhodea gave Cloud a makeover to disguise him as a woman, much to Cloud's discomfort, but to others' admiration.[55]

Cloud and Aerith met up with Tifa, agreeing that if all three were candidates to Corneo's audition, he had to choose one of them, guaranteeing that they could interrogate him. Corneo chose Cloud based on Cloud's disgust of him. While Cloud was taken to Corneo's bedroom, Aerith and Tifa defeated Corneo's lackeys and rushed the room, bringing their weapons and clothes. Corneo revealed that Shinra planned on abandoning Midgar anyway and would bring the Sector 7 plate down on the slums to crash Barret's group and blame it on Avalanche.[56] He dropped them into the sewers, commencing "Rough Waters", where they fought Corneo's pet, Abzu, and several monsters, with Tifa navigating the route to Sector 7. They ended up in the Train graveyard, commencing "Haunted", where they made their way through the haunted junkyard to return to the slums. In "Fight for Survival", Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith arrived at the Sector 7 slums just as a skirmish broke out at the pillar between Shinra and Avalanche. Though slowed down by the Whispers, they reached the pillar's gate as Wedge fell, surviving with the grappling gun catching his fall. Cloud asked Tifa and Aerith to stay with Wedge while he raced up the pillar himself. Along the way, he ran into Biggs on the verge of death, who asked Cloud to visit the kids at the Leaf House orphanage and told Cloud that he had "so much in common" with them before wishing him luck.[57] Cloud was pinned down by helicopter fire from Reno before Tifa arrived. They ran into a badly injured Jessie, who considered herself lucky that Cloud could hear her last words, believing that she deserved this fate as she had blood on her hands, lamenting that she was not able to have Cloud over for pizza as she had promised, before passing out.[58] Cloud and Tifa joined up with Barret and fought Reno and Rude to save the pillar, but were unable to stop the plate separation procedure, as Tseng revealed that he had taken Aerith captive. The three barely made it to safety using a zip wire.

In "A Broken World", Barret mourned the loss of the sector and of his friends. As Cloud believed that Aerith had saved Barret's daughter, Marlene, Barret and the others agreed to return to Aerith's house. On the way, Cloud encountered yet another apparition of Sephiroth, mocking his failure to save Sector 7. At Aerith's house, Barret reunited with Marlene and Elmyra told them about Aerith's heritage as a Cetra. Cloud wished to search for her, though Elmyra strongly objected for the sake of Aerith's safety, feeling that Shinra may not harm her. Tifa agreed and Barret urged that they look through the Sector 7 ruins again.[59] The trio found Wedge in an underground laboratory, where Cloud was separated from the others, reuniting with them at the last minute after following Barret's trail of bullet holes.[60] They saw several test subjects in pods before the Whispers took them away. In "In Search of Hope", the group returned to Elmyra, who agreed to house them and nurse Wedge to health. Having seen the underground lab, Cloud tried to convince Elmyra again to let them look for Aerith, but she needed time to think it over. That night, Cloud met either Barret, Tifa, or an apparition of Aerith in the gardens. The following morning, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret were united in agreeing to try to rescue Aerith from the Shinra Building, with Elmyra this time reluctantly agreeing.[61] As the city was locked down due to Avalanche's bombings, they opted to return to Corneo for information on how to reach topside.[62]

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret completed various odd jobs around the slums before meeting Leslie Kyle in Wall Market, the only occupant of the Don's palace. Kyle promised to help them reach the Shinra Building in exchange for a favor: helping him exact revenge on Corneo in his sewer hideout. Though they were unsuccessful in stopping Corneo, Kyle was reasonably satisfied with their help escorting him and gave the group grappling hooks to reach the top of the plate. Barret thought that Cloud being a mercenary suited him and he had learned that Cloud was good deep down, to which Tifa agreed.[63] In "The Day Midgar Stood Still", Cloud and the group used their grappling hooks to navigate the ruined Sector 7 plate and reach the Shinra Building, evading Shinra forces along the way.

In "The Belly of the Beast", at Cloud's suggestion, the group infiltrated the Shinra Building through the parking garage,[64] before making their way through the building as tourists. Unbeknownst to them, Mayor Domino was securing their safety with the hopes that they were going to assassinate President Shinra.[65] Cloud almost compromised the mission when a Public Security Division soldier recognized him, prompting them to leave in a hurry to eavesdrop on Shinra's executive meeting.[66] The group followed Hojo out to his lab, where Aerith was being held, and rescued her and Red XIII, a talking canine being whom Hojo was also keeping in captivity. Hojo told Cloud that he had never made SOLDIER before the Whispers carried him away.[67] Cloud broke down on his way toward an elevator down to Jenova's chamber and passed out. Cloud awoke in Aerith's room within Hojo's lab, commencing "Deliverance from Chaos". Aerith told the group about her history as an Ancient and Shinra's plan to use her to locate the promised land to build Neo Midgar.[68] Domino and Wedge contacted them to inform them that Avalanche HQ were attacking the building and that they could escape via helipad. In front of Jenova's containment tank, a cloaked man appeared, whom everyone saw as Sephiroth. Cloud charged at him, but was sent plummeting into the depths of Hojo's secret research lab, the Drum, and was separated from the others. Hojo followed their progress and made them defeat his creations and complete puzzles in order to escape.

After escaping from Hojo's lab, the group followed a trail of fluid left by the remains of Jenova, which has gone missing from the tank. They found President Shinra, whom Sephiroth killed before transforming into Jenova Dreamweaver, whom the group defeated. Cloud saw Sephiroth outside carrying Jenova's body, though this was just another robed man who fell off the building with Jenova. The Turks gunned down Avalanche's helicopter as Rufus Shinra, the late president's son, arrived to take the reins of the company. Cloud stayed to duel Rufus and buy the others time, but nearly fell to his death after the duel. Tifa caught him, herself staying behind to watch after him, scolding him for playing the hero.[69]

The two stole Shinra vehicles, Cloud riding the Hardy-Daytona while Tifa drove a pick-up truck with the others on board, to escape via the Midgar Expressway, commencing "Destiny's Crossroads". At the end of the expressway, the group saw Sephiroth waiting for them, as he cut a path to "another future" and asked Cloud to follow. Aerith stopped Cloud and explained that Sephiroth was a greater threat to the planet than Shinra. After some hesitation, she agreed that they should follow him in, but warned that they would be changing fate. Cloud and the others entered a portal and fought colossal Whispers across a surreal terrain of flying debris before facing Sephiroth himself.[70]

Cloud chased Sephiroth further, who pulled Cloud to what he called the "edge of creation". Sephiroth said that the world would become a part of it unless Cloud joined with him so the two could defeat destiny together. Cloud refused and Sephiroth disarmed him and said that Cloud had "seven seconds till the end", asking what Cloud would do with that time. Cloud reunited with the party back in the normal world and they prepared to pursue Sephiroth. The Whispers' defeat altered the timeline. Zack survived his "last stand" and was last seen taking Cloud to Midgar, but his present fate and how much Cloud remembers of him remain unknown.

Cloud and the gang later walk to Kalm. Realize that it will take a while, the gang take a ride on Bill's truck.