From there, he heads back to a very familiar place, back to the gravesite of his old friend Zack. He picks up Zack’s old Buster Sword that had been knocked over and slams it back into the ground.
Cloud: ”I’ll live for you as well… that’s what I decided.”
Cloud experiences a quick flashback with the different scenes containing Zack all the way up until his death on the outskirts of Midgar. It was around this area that a wolf was seen moving around—the wolf in the movie has been claimed to serve two purposes, one is that it is the spirit of Zack watching over Cloud and the other is that it is to symbolize Cloud’s loneliness and the problems he’s currently going through. Shortly after Cloud remembers these things, he receives another jolt to his arm; the pain of Geostigma brings him down to his knees. After regaining his bearings, he decides to head back to his “home,” which is the church where Aerith cared for the flowers in Final Fantasy VII. When he arrives, he finds that the church has been badly damaged from a fight between Tifa and Loz that occurred not too long ago. He also finds Tifa passed out in the middle of the flowers. Cloud quickly rushes over to her, holding her in his arms. She incoherently says a few words and passes back out and says “Marlene…” Before Cloud can do anything at all, he has another attack from his Geostigma and passes out on the field of flowers lying next to Tifa.
It is here that we see someone looking down upon the both of them—as well as seeing the wolf in the corner of the screen. The bright light gives it away completely… it is Aerith still looking over Cloud. We next see Cloud awaken in a bed in Seventh Heaven, next to Tifa. He looks over to see Tifa still not awake from the encounter with Loz. He stays there until she finally wakes up later that night and the two engage in a rather serious conversation about himself…
Cloud: “Reno and them are searching…”
Tifa: “It’s Geostigma… isn’t it? ‘It’s alright if I die,’ is that what you’re thinking?”
Tifa: “As I thought…”
Cloud: “There’s no cure.”
Tifa: “But Denzel was trying his best, wasn’t he? Why don’t you fight with us instead of running away? We could all help each other and try our best! Can’t do because we’re not a real family, huh?”
Cloud: “I can’t… I can’t save anyone, I don’t think. Neither family nor friends… no one.”
We can clearly see here that Cloud is experiencing some real troubles with the events two years before with Aerith’s death. He feels that it was his fault that she died, that it was his weakness and failure to protect her that allowed Sephiroth to kill her. More than anything right now Cloud wanted to be forgiven for his “sin.” He felt that Aerith was putting the blame on him for her death and that he had somehow let her down. The Geostigma just further adds to his suffering, making him once again doubt what he can do. That lingering fear of failure has caught up to Cloud… again. He had once overcome it in Final Fantasy VII, but with two years to reflect on his past, it is apparent that the strength he once had was gone. He no longer wanted to do anything, no longer wanted to be relied on, he just wanted to be alone by himself. The Turks enter into the room and tell Cloud where the kidnapped kids have been taken—the Forgotten Capital. Cloud yet again does not want to even try to save them and instead tells Reno to do because he’s going to go speak with Rufus. Reno, however, tells Cloud to go to the city himself.