Fuck you guys. Do you know how hard it was to read everything? Why did you suddenly started to post like crazies, when this thread was nearly dead before.
I wanted to say something smart, but it was two days ago, and now I've lost my train of thoughts.
I think it was Q who asked if Clerith was the intended pairing, to which I have objections:
- you just don't think that the rival pairing is going to have sex at the end and confess their feelings if another pairing is intended
- you don't go 'oh this girl will die, so we need another one' out of the blue - it was obviously meant to have the hero fulfilling his wishes by the end and giving him a happy ending, albeit a bittersweet one.
I also wanted to point out that Aerith's role is not so much centered around Cloud, but she has a bigger role than that. In the other hand, Tifa seems to have been created solely for Cloud's story, to be the one who'd connect all the dots and help him. Her plot is his personal one, while Aerith is his bigger quest "let's save the planet" and all that jazz. So the two girls are connected to him in more than just being two chicks in love with him, they connect him to the story and what's happening. If you look at that angle, then even back then, CloTi was the intended pairing. The alternate ending was for those who didn't like Tifa much, probably, but it didn't mean that SE didn't have their own timeline of canon, even back then. They probably didn't expect so much shipwars over this.
As to who Aerith loved still/more/not anymore/truly, I think that she loved both Zack and Cloud. It's meaningless to take the CoLW quote without putting it in its context, because I think that she truly did love Cloud when she was alive - she wanted to have a bright future with him, she's been hurt in the past and was attracted to him. Maybe she didn't know the real Cloud, but really, it doesn't matter. For her, he represented way more than just a friend - he was also her hopes for a bright future, that she could love him and be loved back one day, that they would make it through. Thing is, she died at that point, and then Cloud remembered he loved Tifa all along - and it was with her that he made it through.
But all of this means jack. Really. It's what Cloud used to represent while she was alive. He is STILL precious, yes. But. I don't think that FFVII afterlife is made of love and flowers. Feelings get washed; even she hadn't think about him for a long time when she was reminded of him... by Sephiroth.
If Zack had been targetted, she probably would have said the same about him - how he was her beloved and precious to her. But it was Cloud who was the target, and she was reminded that. Her role goes beyond than mere love, be it with Zack or with Cloud. Both men are precious to her; but it's afterlife you're talking about. She has a role, and she will always be there if shit goes really wrong like in AC/C, but that's all there is to it. Her connection with Cloud is still important; but are there romantic feelings from her? I highly doubt it. Those feelings, I think, are a bit different, and mostly because she's dead. And it's the same with Zack, really. Even if SE pushed Zertih at the end of ACC, it was more like a symbol for the two lovers being reunited. And I think it's mostly because they pushed Zerith in their games between AC and ACC.
Which makes me go back to SE; their pairings are obviously Zerith and Cloti - I mean, the way they push the two pairings isn't even subtle anymore. Only, Zerith is tragic romance and CloTi is difficult romance that make it through. There's no easy romance with SE in the Compilation - look at all the pairings going through shit. I don't see them having Aerith saying how Cloud was her beloved contradicts what they write - it IS true. It's just more complicated than just that.
