Nearly every tender moment shared by her and Cloud is a replication of one she shared with Zack, forcing me to believe she never moved on from her first heartbreak. This relationship is truly heartbreaking, and only made harder by the fact that Zack’s ghost haunts Aerith in the shape of Cloud. On the day Zack met his untimely fate, there was only one thing on his mind: getting back to Midgar to find Aerith. Zack was the first man who asked her on a date, the first she led to that iconic park in the slums, the first whose eyes caught her own, and the first she opened up her heart to, culminating in her writing letter after letter for years while Zack was trapped in Nibelheim.
Long before Cloud crashed through the ceiling of the sector 5 church, Zack made his dramatic crash landing into Aerith’s life and stole her heart with his boyish charm.
However, I am a firm believer that no one is better suited for Aerith than her first love, Zack Fair. There’s a lot of debate over which of Final Fantasy VII’s leading ladies belongs with moody broody protagonist Cloud Strife, with fair points on either side.
