You know, I do like the narrative in fics where it’s like “Cloud may be mako sensitive, but he’s still strong and determined!” But sometimes I want:
“Cloud Strife may be physically lacking but he’s smart as hell.”
Or even,
“Cloud strife is kind of average at everything.”
Because it creates interest in his narrative for me.
I want, a fic where Cloud can’t really lift a sword above his head without adrenaline, but he once finished Commander Rhapsodos’ recitation for him.
I want, Cloud strife gets out of the army after being unable to promote and gets by in the slums selling flowers and scrap metal with the girl who’s dating the guy he’s crushing on.
I want, Cloud strife makes his name in the canine unit because he understands dogs better than people.
I want, Cloud Strife is an avid reader and maybe good at art too.
I want, Cloud Strife has limited reading skills but is good mathematically.
I want, Cloud Strife who is better with a sniper Riffle than he is with a sword.
I kind of like those AU's where Sephiroth takes cadet Cloud as an apprentice to contrast with Zack being a student of Angeal. I also like the idea of cadet Cloud getting excited that his hero will be his mentor and slowly realizes how his hero is not so different from him in being awkward and even surprisingly shy. He just follows Sephiroth like a loyal puppy dog and does what he says. I also can see other Soldier subordinates being jealous that everyone who was vying to be Sephiroth's student was overlooked in favor of this kid who is not even Soldier but a scrawny foot minion. Angeal of course would accept Cloud and hope he does good under Seph but of course I could so see Genesis being more critical and say Cloud is too lacklaster to train.
I love this AU plot.
I can see Seph being extremely harsh and strict with Cloud at first. He never wanted to be a mentor after all. And this squeaking little fanboy is the LAST thing he needs. Then you'll have Genesis being a jealous bully and everyone looking down on him and Cloud is not having a great time.
One day, during a training session, Sephiroth gets a little too frustrated and pushes Cloud too far. Cloud lashes out at him and actually impresses the hell out of him and gets a hit in. But it's angry and frustrated and wild and Cloud's emotionally falling apart because he's exhausted and hurt and just...done.
And Sephiroth....sees something. Something very familiar in Cloud's eyes. That anger and fear and helplessness. Cloud is...him. Him before the war. The version of him that was small and scared and just wanted to prove his strength. His mirror image. His double. Everything he left behind.
After this incident, Sephiroth is a lot gentler and kinder towards Cloud, actually starting to take his mentor role seriously. This time, he works to foster real strength from the boy that isn't conditioned through helplessness and anger. He can make Cloud a real warrior the way Shinra couldn't with him. He can make Cloud a HERO.
Over time, they become genuinely close. Not in the loud, huggy way Angeal and Zack are. But in a quiet, respectful way. Sometimes, Sephiroth spends more time with Cloud than he does with all his friends combined. And sometimes, truly, he feels as if Cloud probably understands him better than anyone else in all of Gaia.
Cloud, for his part, slowly grows in confidence and is unflinchingly loyal to Sephiroth. They sometimes have long talks alone away from everyone else. And when he finally gets older and becomes a First (and arguably the second best soldier in all of Shinra, much to Genesis' horror), Cloud and Sephiroth still remain in each other's company constantly.
Whether their relationship shifts to romantic or remains platonic, one thing is clear. They have both found their soul-twin. And they could never break that connection. Ever.
I'd actually imagine they'd be extremely similar. Both really skittish and avoidant.
Imagine taking two wobbly feral kittens and dumping them in the same room together. You'd have ten minutes of them just staring each other down before slowly inching closer.
Cloud asks Seph why he looks all bruised and bandaged up. Sephiroth asks Cloud if he's a chocobo because of the hair. They go right up to each other and make contact for .09 seconds before jumping back and repeating the cycle all over again.
Later on, Sephiroth has a death grip on Cloud crushing him like a squeaky plushie and insists that Cloud is HIS. And will throw a screaming tantrum if Hojo tries to take him away.
Ok ok we call know that cloud can dance….real question is how did the boy learn those moves (my bet is on Zack lmao)
Cloud has early, blurry memories of dancing for his mom back when he was tiny. She absolutely ate it up and thought it was the cutest thing ever. And Cloud maaay or may not have taken it to heart and maaaaybe decided to improve his technique in the offhand event Tifa ever noticed him.
Zack's dorky enthusiasm only added to it tbh. Cloud already has some sick moves. Zack just gave him an even greater nudge 😂
Please please please more hcs on Cloud being Sephiroth's soldier apprentice? That's such a good au idea.
I really like it!
-During his harsher training period with Cloud when he had no desire to be a mentor, Sephiroth often just sent Cloud off to run pointless errands just to keep him out of the way. These tasks has little to nothing to do with anything. So Cloud was essentially just his little servant running around doing chores. Genesis joked that if they got Cloud to answer fanmail, Sephiroth would NEVER see him again. So Cloud got to spend almost three days answering a single mailbox.
-Once Sephiroth steps up and actually begins to mold Cloud into an actual hero, he's a lot kinder and more relaxed overall. He speaks very gently to Cloud and Cloud very quickly forgives him for that time he almost pushed Cloud to his breaking point during training. Sephiroth is still very demanding in his training methods but now he balances it out with valuable praise whenever Cloud performs well. Sephiroth is a strict mentor, but he also readily recognizes talent.
-Sephiroth was incredibly proud when Cloud made First. His expression might not have shown it, but his posture was all but glowing.
-Cloud pretty much follows Seph like a little duckling all day. But Sephiroth doesn't really mind. Cloud is always the first to defend him and the first to speak out in favor of his decisions. Cloud finds that he's rather good at reading Sephiroth's thoughts or actions in advance. He could even finish Sephiroth's sentences for him if he wanted to.
-Cloud is the only person Sephiroth reveals the full details of his life to. As such, Cloud hates Hojo even more than Sephiroth himself. And slowly begins to hate Shinra as well.
-Cloud gradually sheds a lot of his shy persona and, under Sephiroth's mentoring, becomes overly serious but not without his occasional smartass moments. He's moody to just about everyone but Zack and Seph.
-Cloud is unquestioningly loyal. He would kill if Sephiroth commanded it. He would sooner face Hell itself than throw away his ties to Sephiroth. It sounds a bit unhealthy, and it certainly is, but their bond has essentially forged an ironclad union between them
-Sephiroth and Cloud get assigned to Nibelheim.
Good ending: Cloud saves Sephiroth from himself and they both mutually retire afterwards to find a bit of peace elsewhere.
Bad ending: Cloud chooses to aid Sephiroth in his and Jenova's mission to rule the planet. And since he doesn't stop Sephiroth at Nibelheim, they both go on a Shinra killing spree together.
If our lovely group of problematic firsts (that includes Zack and Cloud!) had to listen to music while working out/training/relaxing/etc, what would their favorite types of music be?
(…we all know Zack just vibes with whatever background music is in his head at the time…)
Angeal is totally a fan of 80's power ballads. Or the FF equivalent. He doesn't care how cheesy they are. HEAVY bro energy during gym time. DO YOU EVEN LIFT BRUH.
Genesis likes to pretend to be Mr. Fancy acquired taste with his music in order to impress his admirers and coworkers. "Oh yes, I listen to on the FINEST nontraditional underground sensations YOU wouldn't have ever heard of them." In reality, he's the biggest basic bitch and sings to pop music in the shower. Either that, or showtunes.
Sephiroth listens mostly to classical. But things change after Angeal and Genesis left. He finds it harder to concentrate and tries to switch to self-help audiobooks and podcasts. Which equally backfires because he's not feeling any better. Then, by pure happenstance, he comes across screamo death metal music and while he pretends to despise it, it helps him feel EXTREMELY validated and cathartic unleashing all his negative emotions and anger when no one else can see.
Zack doesn't know it but he and Genesis probably have the most in common in terms of musical tastes. They are both avid connoisseurs of basic pop. Zack also likes boy bands thanks to Aerith introducing him to it. And you know what? He's not even ashamed. He also enjoys basic hard rock and would also like the FF equivalent of Disney music, if it existed.
Cadet!Cloud is the only true "deep, poetic soul" among these losers. He likes Indie rock. Not so much edgy or pretentious stuff but more of the weighty sadboi stuff. YES, Cloud has cried in the shower multiple times listening to mopey guitars thinking about how he's too weak for Tifa (and Sephiroth!) to ever notice.
I think you’ve told us what Seph’s and Gen’s favourite foods are. What are Angeal’s, Cloud’s and Zack’s favourites in your HCs?
Angeal has very fond memories of cooking with his mother throughout his childhood. He especially loved spending the day with her baking bread or some other cherished dessert his poor family rarely got to eat. His absolute favorite food is his mother's beef stew, reserved almost exclusively for birthdays. He also really loves fresh raisin bread, as well as spicy rice dishes. And fresh fish. A nice cooked bass or catfish is a big win in his book!
Zack loves junk food, much to Angeal's dismay. He is a seasoned patron of cake, sugary cereals, ramen, pizza, and waffles. He and Sephiroth are also both mutually feral about greasy messy burgers, a realization that often fills Zack with unbridled delight. They're probably terrible influences on each other in that regard, with Zack often sneaking Sephiroth fast food like it's a dire underground operation. Angeal makes sure that Zack's training regimen is filled with plenty of strenuous physical activity to keep the calories at bay. And, fortunately, Zack also benefits from a very high metabolism.
Cloud's favorite food, according to that Yokai Watch thing is...milk? Like, just the drink. Just milk. Ooookay, Cloud. I have QUESTIONS. For the sake of expansion, however, I'll say that he's just a big fan of dairy in general. Yogurt. Ice cream. Choccy milk. Custard. And CHEESE. So, so much cheese. Cloud is cheesed to meet you.
Must be hard being cloud strife when everyone around u is a solid head taller than u and thus find it acceptable to carry u like a stuffed animal. Zack would do it out of affection but seph just does it to be an asshole 😔.
I like to think Cloud is kind of runty and undersized because he didn't get enough to eat growing up. His mother tried her best but in a small village and without Cloud's father in the picture to help provide for them, he never got as much nutrition as he should have. Poor thing.
Thus, Cloud is Smol and easily held. Seph's an absolute tank and dwarfs him. Zack can pick him up and swing him around like a ragdoll. Even Tifa could probably crush Cloud like a stress toy if she wanted to.
Luckily, Cloud's a strong, tenacious little thing, with an incredibly high tolerance to pain despite everything he's been through. As he gets a bit older, he never really builds any height, but he's able to build some serious muscle and speed to keep himself a worthy warrior. He operates on being lean, fast, and unflinchingly courageous in battle, especially when he's angry. Which is often.
The tiniest, angriest fighter. He's Smol and full of RAGE.
