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droshawoluv · 5 years

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Cloti Fall Festival 2019 - Day 2. Family & Friends.

My submission for #ClotiFallFestival2019

#ThankYouCloti.

One of the things that may be overlooked at least in Advent Children Complete / the Compilation, is the importance of their friends to both Cloud and Tifa. There were a couple of moments that made me tear up while having this in mind, making them meaningful, and I want to point them out.

In ACC, right after Cloud shows his first signs of wanting to try doing things right and stop isolating himself + running away because his fear of not being able to do anything right in regards of protecting his friends nor family, you can see his phone falling in the water. This is meaningful when you remember that a couple of minutes before we were shown the super important talk that Tifa had with him, especially when she called him out about hating being alone, that’s why he keeps his phone even if he doesn’t respond to any calls, because when we see the phone falling we hear the voice mails that the gang leave Cloud and that he keeps, giving us the hint that he cherish those messages that his friends leave him.

Also, one of the many instances that Tifa read him like a book without him telling a single word beforehand because she knows and understand him more than anyone, but also because I can see her feeling the same way: hating the feeling of being alone, as she mainly experienced that with him leaving (plus the party splitting up). In that talk she was being very wise and a also precious bean ;;

The next moments were during the Bahamut fight: firstly as they arrive to protect both Tifa and Denzel, she is shown with the proudest of smiles as everyone is making their appearance; while as Cloud joins the fight, we have the very obvious and symbolic moment of everyone –incluing Aerith!- helping him reach unhuman heights gradually being more & more OP

The third one is a subtle moment during the Kadaj fight as they all arrive in Cid’s new airship, specifically after Tifa and Vincent talk about the importance of this fight to Cloud personally and explaining the situation, where you can see Cloud making a smirk as the Shera fly off. This to me was such a “I have my friends backing me up and trusting in me”, giving Cloud the confidence he needs during his process to redeem himself (that was already on its way).

And the last one, while it is just more of a personal attachment to it, it’s the scene I (try to) draw: when Cloud awakes at the church, as soon as Marlene welcomes him and he turns to look, the shot of everyone standing together watching him, silently, as you can see the smiles, the acceptance or the proud looks of everyone in their own means, giving him that final sign of reassurance that he did and is doing a great job, made me emotional, as if everything is starting to be on its rightful place, but also the vibe that he always had them, and there was no reason to consider him a guy who let down other nor he isn’t able to protect what he cherish, and that he deserves to be happy, instead of feeling guilt about it.

And I feel that all of those kinds of feelings and thoughts were in Cloud’s and Tifa’s heads as they look to each other very knowingly. They know each other as few can, she literally was in his mind to find himself, and I’m pretty sure, as they smile to each other, that they share a lot of those thoughts, with hopes to what is waiting ahead of them.

Add Aerith and Zack, his best (and only at some point) friend who had as a role model, being proud of him, and you have a Cloud full of confidence and support that will help him going in the right path. Everything’s going to be ok, and the reason of that is his last phrase in the movie.

“I am not alone”

Now that’s the importance of friends & family mainly focused on Cloud, but for Tifa’s case is maybe more impressive and meaningful, as we can see this particularly in On a way to a smile: Case of Tifa. Already in the very beginning (right before ACC events), as soon as she’s alone in the bar, she feels “a surge of uneasiness”, when she has no motives to think Denzel & Marlene weren’t there.

“A surge of uneasiness came over her. She wondered if she was all alone in the house. As the thought crossed her mind, it proved too much for her, and she called out: ‘Marlene!’”

- On a Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa.

While during her time with Cloud and Barrett in between the OG ending and ACC, she has a lot of moments where she struggles with the idea of her friends leaving one by one, especially when Barrett leaves, as she naturally thinks if the next one to leave could be Cloud too:

“Friends were a necessity to me so that I could live on without being suppressed by the guilt I felt. Even if they all bore the same scars, the same sins. We couldn’t live without comforting and encouraging each other. Maybe you could call that family. We just had to work together and do our best. Together with friend we can call family, there’s nothing we can’t get through.”

- On a Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa.

Cloud and Tifa hate being, or rather feel alone (even if, yes, Cloud does isolate himself but that doesn’t mean he likes it -maybe many of us probably did the same thing at some point in our lives- & as Tifa nailed it, he hated it; plus we have the disappearence of that lone wolf at the end). They find genuine and honest comfort in each other:

When Tifa is alone with her mind that may easily autodestruct her, Cloud tries to reassure her that he’ll be there to remind her that she’s much stronger than what she thinks.

When Cloud wants to disappear and die alone, she’s there to reassure him that they can fight together as they are a family (a feeling that Cloud confirms at the end).

“Cloud, who had stayed silent this whole time, spoke:

‘We’re not related by blood, but we’re family. Just like you.’

‘Well, see you soon.’ Marlene said goodbye with childlike impatience, and pulled on Cloud’s hand.”

- Lateral Biography: TURKS -The Kids Are Alright-

That’s why for me, there’s a big importance in the friends they have, and the family they formed together. And the reason why when looking at scenes like the one I drew it makes me tear up a little bit, because all of that rambling that I am making comes to mind in an instant.

And now, Cloud and Tifa have their happy ending with a bright future ahead (as they deserve): they have each other, as friends, as ‘more than friends’, as lovers, as a family that genuinely supports each other through all of their mental struggles. And those acts speak by themselves, and in my personal opinion, there’s no such bigger show of love care and affection than that. That’s why I love them both and get quite emotional because of them (at least one of the reasons hohohoho).