anteceded Application
PLAYER
NAME: Cal (Calenlass Greenleaf)
LJ USERNAME: calen_greenleaf
AIM/MSN: N/A
EMAIL: eldariel_perdhel [At] yahoo [dot] com
CHARACTER
NAME: Cloud Strife
SERIES: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation included
TIMELINE: Right before ACC begins.
BACKGROUND:
Cloud Strife. A nobody from a backwater town called Nibelheim. He was a blue-eyed kid with funny, spiky blond hair. He was raised by his single mother; the fate of his father is unknown. Shy, quiet, awkward, and generally scorned by the other children, he was nonetheless daring enough to befriend Tifa Lockhart, who, unlike he, was popular and had plenty of friends. When Tifa tried to cross a rickety bridge to the mountains, he tried to stop her from crossing because of the danger; the bridge snapped, and he tried to hang on to her, but they both fell. Cloud escaped with only a few scrapes, but Tifa was knocked unconscious for a week. Hereafter, Cloud was even more scorned. When people accused him of hurting Tifa, he accepted those accusations, bearing the weight of it. Why? Because he blamed himself; he was too late to help her. Still, he was quick to defend himself, picking fights with the boys because their rejection of him still hurt.
Four years later, thirteen-year-old Cloud saw a chance to prove himself to the people in Nibelheim-especially to Tifa. He told her his plans to get into SOLDIER and become a First Class, one of the elite heroes, like Sephiroth. Cloud then promised Tifa that he would come to her rescue whenever she was in trouble. And then he left for Midgar, determined to be a SOLDIER and show everything he wasn’t a another trouble-making kid.
If only getting into SOLDIER was as easy as saying it. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but he couldn’t have imagined how difficult it truly was. He ended up failing, becoming a ordinary infantryman. The history between the moment he went for SOLDIER and the time he met Zack was glossed over, but one can imagine what Cloud went through. Frustration. Questions of “Why? I tried so hard, but my dream is still far away.” He didn’t even go home, because he didn’t want to show his face. Approximately two years passed; and it was during a snowy mission to Modeoheim that he met Zack Fair. Zack was everything he wasn’t-cheerful, out-going, friendly, popular, and in First Class. But from their first meeting, they got along well, and perhaps one reason was because Zack understood what Cloud and his dreams to become SOLDIER.
Another year passed. And he was still an army grunt. His only renown was his attempt to hold off a terrorist attacks for a few brief moments with a borrowed sword. And that was it. Little did he know that an investigation regarding the mako reactor in Nibelheim would be a turning point in his life. He, two other infantrymen, Zack, and Sephiroth were ordered to his hometown on a mission. They went to Nibelheim, and much to his own disgust, he suffered motion sickness on the way. Once they were at the gate of the town, he stuck his helmet over his head to hide his identity from the people. It wasn’t easy; Tifa was called to be their guide, and she had asked Zack about him. Eventually, he did reveal himself to his mother, who, like all mothers, worried about their children. During the week, after he was knocked out by some monsters, he told Zack that if he were in SOLDIER, he might be able to make a difference. Zack then bluntly said that SOLDIERs are monsters, leaving him confused. How was that possible?
He didn’t understand until Sephiroth set fire to Nibelheim. Although he had no great love for some of the people here, it was still his home. He couldn’t save his mother. And Tifa? His promise to her was running through his mind when he dashed into the mako reactor where Zack, Sephiroth, and Tifa were. He saw Tifa unconscious, and Zack sprawled across the stairs, both of bleeding.
Sephiroth, his hero, had become the enemy in just an instant. Angry, hurt, and devastated, he made the decision that would decide his fate forever. Despite being only a normal, non-mako-enhanced person, he snatched up Zack’s Buster Sword and rammed it through Sephiroth. He then made his way to Tifa, and she then knew that he had kept their promise. Unfortunately for Cloud, Sephiroth wasn’t dead yet and was irate that that someone like Cloud could actually think to injure him. Zack told Cloud to finish Sephiroth off, which he tried to, but Sephiroth stabbed him through the chest with his sword, and dangled Cloud at the end of it, telling him not to be cocky. But Cloud wasn’t one to be finished off that easily. He used the blade as a sort of lever and shoved Sephiroth into the mako reactor. Staggering and losing blood, he fell on the stairs near Zack and passed out.
This was hardly the end for him, however. When he awoke, he found himself in the clutches of Hojo, in the basement of the Shinra mansion. For four years, he was a specimen for Hojo’s experiments. The excess mako, coupled with Jenova cells, were too much for him to handle, and he became mako-poisoned-a comatose, vegetable-like state. He was deemed a failure by Hojo. But he wasn’t alone. Zack, who had also undergone the same experimentation, was little affected by it. He was able to break them out, and they were on the run for a year. Though his mind was blurry and he couldn’t remember much, he certainly did remember Zack. Not once did Zack think of leaving him. The former SOLDIER found him a change of clothes, helped him, protected him, and even talked to him in his unresponsive state. Their escape ended when they were found out. Zack dragged Cloud to a pile of large rocks, ruffled his hair, and walked away to fight an entire army. By this time, Cloud was more aware, and he reached out to Zack as if to tell him to stop.
He could only watch helplessly as Zack ferociously fought long and hard for their freedom. As the sky became overcast, he saw his only friend be shot down. While the rain started to fall, he managed to drag himself to Zack’s side, where Zack pushed the Buster Sword into his hands and told him to be his “his living legacy, the proof I existed.” When Cloud promised that, Zack closed his eyes and let his life slip away. Cloud let out a gut-wrenching scream at that moment, staring up at the sky and remembering Zack. He stayed like that for hours until the sun came out, when he stood and bid Zack good-night, walking away.
Somewhere on the road to Midgar, however, he lost himself. Presumably, the mako, the Jenova cells, and perhaps a little interference on Sephiroth’s part, Cloud’s memories became altered. Zack disappeared, the Nibelheim Incident was twisted, and he told himself that he was a former famous SOLDIER First Class who now hated Shinra. His personality drastically changed-he was arrogant, cold, and, so he thought-the personality a “cool” hero would have. Some of his mannerisms resembled Zack’s, but the former quiet boy that was once Cloud was missing. He dragged himself to the train station, where he was found by Tifa and cared by her until he recovered-or so he thought.
Still thinking he was an ex-SOLDIER, Cloud became a mercenary. His first job was blowing up a reactor with AVALANCHE, a terrorist group that believed the use of mako was killing the Planet. Even though he helped them, he said he didn’t care about the Planet. He was at odds with Barret, the leader of AVALANCHE. Tifa, however, held him to their promise, and he reluctantly agreed to continue to help in AVALANCHE’s endeavors.
But during one of their attempts to bomb a reactor, they accidentally destroyed a bridge, and Cloud fell into the Slums, which is under the Plate. He crashed through the roof of a church and landed in a flowerbed, where he met Aerith Gainsborough. After he said that he would be a bodyguard for her, Aerith said that she wanted to go out with him one date as a payment. He accepted this. They went out on a date, and Cloud saw Tifa being carted off to the mansion of Don Corneo. Cloud set out to rescue her-and it is here that he cross-dresses in order to get in. It turned out that Tifa was infiltrating the place because Don Corneo was a Shinra informant, and he told them that Shinra was on AVALANCHE’s tail. Not too long after, Sector 7was bombed, and Aerith was kidnapped because she was last of the Ancients (a race of people who could talk and hear the Planet). AVALANCHE rescued her from Hojo, and in the process picked up Red XIII, a red-furred creature that could think and talk like a human.
Unfortunately, the group was captured by Shinra and locked into cells. Strange thing was, during the night, Cloud woke up to find the doors were all unlocked. AVALANCHE then discovered President Shinra’s mutilated body, with a seven-foot sword sticking out of it. Cloud proclaimed that it was the work of Sephiroth, and after encountering Rufus Shinra and defeating him, they escape, Cloud on a motorcycle and the others in a pick-up truck. Midgar is no longer an option for them, so they head to Kalm. After reaching Kalm, Cloud revealed to the others his past history regarding SOLDIER, Shinra, and Sephiroth. His version, however, contained nothing on Zack, and while the others accepted his story with little question, Tifa is strangely silent. Cloud doesn’t note this and they continue on their journey. The mission-to hunt Sephiroth down.
To make a long story short, AVALANCHE travels through the Planet, picking up four others-Yuffie Kisaragi, a bratty, energetic ninja obsessed with materia, Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who is secretly a Shinra spy, Vincent Valentine, a former Turk who locked himself in a coffin to atone for his sins, and Cid Highwind, a crusty pilot whose every other word is an curse. After the Cid joined the group, it is discovered that Cait Sith is a spy controlled by Reeve Tuesti, and the robot stole an important artifact. AVALANCHE managed to reclaim it at the Temple of the Ancients, where they meet Sephiroth. He told them of his plans to attain the Black Materia, which he would use to summon Meteor. Meteor will destroy the Planet, and Sephiroth would absorb the Lifestream. Cloud was able to attain the Black Materia, but because, all along, Sephiroth had been controlling Cloud through the Jenova cells they both shared, Cloud was lead to give up the Black Materia to his enemy, losing consciousness afterwards.
Aerith, knowing that she could save the Planet, went to the Forgotten Capital to pray. Cloud, still under the influence of Sephiroth, followed her and nearly stabbed her but stops himself. At that instant, Sephiroth appeared from above and stabbed Aerith dead; the White Materia she used to summon Holy fell out of her hair and into the lake. When Cloud grieved for her, Sephiroth asked him, incredulously, “What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?” He left after telling Cloud that he was just a puppet. AVALANCHE went to the Northern Crater after that, where Sephiroth again extended his will over Cloud and tried to break him by revealing half-truths. Combined with Hojo’s words that Cloud was a failure, it does break him, and Cloud lost control, giving the Black Materia back to Sephiroth. Meteor was summoned, and Cloud fell into the Lifestream.
The group later found Cloud, mako-poisoned, in Mideel-his state is similar to the one he was in after he escaped from the Shinra Mansion. Tifa stayed with him, and during an attack by the Ultimate Weapon, the two of them fell into the Lifestream, and it is there that they find the real Cloud. Tifa’s memories, combined with Cloud’s, was able to sort out the lies that Cloud’s mind had connived and the truth of what really happened. It was then that Cloud finally remembered Zack, and how the Nibelheim Incident actually happened. He didn’t make SOLDIER, not even Third. He confessed this to AVALANCHE, and yet they still accept him as their leader. After traveling to Midgar and defeating the enemies there, AVALANCHE briefly split in order to deal with their own issues, and Cloud was left with Tifa. After all this time, the two are reconciled, and there is a small amount of hope in this grim time. The group then met to go to the Northern Crater and to defeat Sephiroth once and for all.
Sephiroth used two forms (Safer Sephiroth and Bizarro Sephiroth), but he was defeated all the same. There was a final battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, though it is one of the will, and Sephiroth was ultimately vanquished. There was still the problem of Meteor, however; Holy wasn’t strong enough to finish it off. As a last resort, the Planet used the Lifestream itself to obliterate Meteor. Midgar is destroyed in the process, but the rest of the world is save. The rebuilding then began, but it is not the end of the Cloud’s story.
A city is set up near Midgar’s ruins, called Edge. Rebuilding would have gone well if not for Geostigma, a non-curable disease that afflicted various people. Its symptoms are black marks that ooze black pus and cause the victim large amounts pain. The one less fights it, the faster one will succumb to it. The public blamed mako, though it is later revealed that the cause of Geostigma came from Jenova cells, controlled by Sephiroth’s will. When the cells invaded a person’s body, the body would try to fight it, but overcompensated. Geostigma was most prevalent among children because they had weaker immune systems.
In the midst of this, Cloud has set up a delivery service, and Tifa has set up a bar. Ever since he regained his memories, however, Cloud’s personality was changing. It was no longer that brash, cold exterior, but a personality that had hints of the old Cloud. Said personality was heavily clouded (no pun intended) by guilt-because he had forgotten Zack, and that he hadn’t been able to save Aerith. He withdrew into himself, though for a brief time when he and Tifa took in Denzel, he was more actively appearing, but after Cloud himself contracted Geostigma, he bitterly realized that he couldn’t save himself, now how was he supposed to save others? Without telling his friends of his condition, he disappeared and left to stay at Aerith’s church. But Sephiroth’s voice haunted him whenever the pain from Geostigma flared up. And Cloud lost his focus, wallowing in guilt. He appeared to be living in the past, mulling over his mistakes and forgetting what was ahead.
It took a hit over the head (figuratively) before he kicked himself out of his cycle of self-hate…
ABILITIES:
Usual-
(Breaking this into several sections)
Limit Breaks-
Braver
Cross-slash
Blade Beam
Climhazzard
Meteorain
Finishing Touch
Omnislash (any version)
Breakdown of First Tsurugi-
Also known as the Fusion Swords. It has six blades that can combine into one. The six blades are a Main Blade, a Hollow Blade, two Back Blades, and two Side Blades.
Other abilities-
- In the original FFVII, Cloud uses a total of sixteen different weapons. Points for capability in handling so many different kinds?
- Cloud is highly efficient in materia casting. His sword has slots in which he keeps his materia. He is not dependant on it, however, and can fight just as well without it.
With a limit-
1. Finishing Touch and Omnislash are locked.
2. Fusion Swords are a little heavier now.
3. Materia power is reduced.
4. Because Cloud is before events of ACC, he still has Geostigma. Meaning his powers were already limited because of disease. In anteceded, there's going to be even more of a limitation because of that.
Any other limitations that mods wish to place is fine by me.
PERSONALITY:
Cloud is very much a multi-layered person, and his personality goes through various changes. During his childhood, he was quiet and hesitant, but very much set in his goals. After the Nibelheim Incident and during the influence of Sephiroth, he developed a cocky, proud, confident sort of side. However, after his original memories were regained, Cloud became more sober, haunted, and critical of himself. Perhaps the three things of his personality that never changed is his want to appear strong, his want to help others, and his want to keep his promises.
Even at a young age, he had a sense of right and wrong. He knew he was different from the others. Generally a social outcast, he was still brave enough to try to befriend others like Tifa. When all her others friends didn’t try to stop her from crossing an old bridge, he was there. When he didn’t succeed, and people blamed him for hurting her (they had both fallen, Cloud with minor injuries and Tifa with major injuries), he took their blame. None of that childish, “I didn’t do anything! It was her own fault!” Sad to say, he was still a kid, and he fought with others, becoming notorious as someone who liked to pick fights. His reason for fighting was really to protect himself, and to show that he wasn’t a weak, short kid.
But Tifa didn’t forget him, and one night, when they secretly met, he pledged to be her hero when he became a SOLDIER First Class. And he would always keep this promise, despite bad timing and never making SOLDIER (an elite group of fighters under Shinra, the all-powerful company that runs most of the world). He wanted to be strong-to show the people and Tifa that he was something. He kept it when Sephiroth (Shinra’s greatest SOLDIER) went insane and burned his hometown down-and Cloud paid dearly for keeping the promise after attempting to kill Sephiroth but failing, and he was rewarded with a stab to his chest, then enduring four years of torture under an insane scientist, and finally being pronounced a failure.
Talk about shattered dreams. The awkward kid who wanted to become a SOLDIER became an experiment, pumped full of mako (the liquid form of the Lifestream, which is the stream of life around the planet) and Jenova (an alien being that Sephiroth calls “Mother”) cells that threatened to break him-he ended up getting severely poisoned to the point that he couldn’t do anything except breathe. Zack, his only friend during this time, managed to break the two of them out of their captivity, and for a year, they ran from Shinra. But they were tracked down, and Cloud could only watch as Zack was gunned down by an entire army. Before Zack died, Cloud made a promise to him-that he would be Zack’s living legacy, the proof that he existed. He stood up and dragged the Buster Sword away.
It was too bad for Cloud, however, that he couldn’t keep the promise-Sephiroth wasn’t dead, and, using the weak state Cloud was still in, twisted Cloud’s memories by hounding on his desire of wanting to be a SOLDIER. Enter Cloud’s personality change-in his mind, he was a cool, collected ex-SOLDIER who didn’t give a damn about people’s problems. Zack was forgotten. His promise to Tifa was mostly forgotten until she brought it up. He was downright rude and brash to the point of being a moody jerk, but no one, not even Sephiroth, can entirely rewrite a person’s personality. Deep down, Cloud was still the protective person with many unfulfilled dreams and promises. When he thought that Tifa was in danger, he went so far as to cross-dress in order to save her. Even though he tried to say that he didn’t care about the Planet or the people fighting for it, his actions say otherwise-he stayed on with AVALANCHE (the terrorist group fighting against Shinra and Shinra’s use of mako), even becoming the leader. And as time goes on, he’s no longer so much of a person trying to be a hero, but a person who is a hero.
But there are still things that have to be set straight. During the group’s journey to find Sephiroth, Cloud has encounters that push him to confront his past. His self-dreamed story of being in SOLDIER was still firmly in place, though it was gradually cracking. After Aerith died, he was becoming more unstable, and when he was bombarded with Sephiroth’s half-truths about himself and the blunt fact that he had been an failed experiment, he couldn’t take it. Always, always, he was being used by others-Sephiroth was using him, Shinra was using him. He was just a puppet. Those words broke his mind, and after falling into the Lifestream, the state of his psyche and body was in tatters. It took Tifa to help him find his true self-the Cloud of five years ago. No more Mr. I-Am-THE-Hero. He was disgusted with himself for losing himself to his dream and for letting Sephiroth take advantage of his mind. Even more so, he was hating himself for forgetting Zack and failing to save Aerith. How could he? The one friend that helped him when he was at his weakest, the one who didn’t give up even if he had a better chance of escaping alone. And Aerith-he could have saved her from Sephiroth, but all he had done was stand there and watch her die.
After Sephiroth was finally defeated, he took on a job that gave him plenty of time to muse over his faults and sins. Too much time, in fact. Cloud became more laconic and self-depreciating to the point that he was incommunicative. All he can think was that he was a failure, useless and incapable. When Geostigma (a disease caused by Sephiroth’s control of Jenova cells) appeared, he ran-figuratively and literally. Some hero he turned out to be; if he couldn’t take care of himself, how was he supposed to help others? He desperately wanted to appear strong, and so he hid from his family and friends (or, to be harsher, abandoned them) so that they wouldn’t see his weakness. In the process, Cloud was taking the coward’s route.
You can only run for a short time before you are found out, however. He was forced to confront his past when it was revealed that Geostigma was tied to Sephiroth and Jenova. Though he tried to put off fighting as long as he could, he realized he couldn't, not when Denzel (the boy Cloud and Tifa took in) and Marlene (the daughter of their friend) were put in danger. He asked if he could forgive himself? Did he want to be forgiven? The answer was yes, and at that moment things began changing. His actions followed this change, and one could see the change in his eyes. It was this change at allowed him, while facing Sephiroth for the third time, while bleeding from multiple wounds, and while being taunted, to realize he couldn't die like a coward. People depended on him, and he depended on them just as much. There were things he loved and cherished, and he could not let a madman take them away. In the end, he was able to smile and say, “Yeah...I'm not alone anymore.”
Cloud thinks himself weak, but he isn’t. He has every right to blame others for his circumstances, but he chose to blame himself for nearly everything. That feeling of responsibility is his greatest strength and his largest weakness. He wants to be strong in order to protect others and keep his word, but thinks that he must hide his weakness in the process. Gradually, though, he learns to understand that he doesn’t need to walk alone to accomplish his goals, but rather, depending on his friends and family is what makes him strong.
STATUS: N/A
SAMPLES
[SIDE A]
➀ [ Cloud (Legacy) & Edgar(Geoff) ] http://community.livejournal.com/edensphere_log/551788.html
➁ [ Cloud, Kadaj, & Sephiroth ] http://community.livejournal.com/discedo_logs/442145.html
➂ [Zack & Cloud] http://community.livejournal.com/discedo_logs/424936.html
( PERMISSIONS' LINK)
NAME: Cal (Calenlass Greenleaf)
LJ USERNAME: calen_greenleaf
AIM/MSN: N/A
EMAIL: eldariel_perdhel [At] yahoo [dot] com
CHARACTER
NAME: Cloud Strife
SERIES: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation included
TIMELINE: Right before ACC begins.
BACKGROUND:
Cloud Strife. A nobody from a backwater town called Nibelheim. He was a blue-eyed kid with funny, spiky blond hair. He was raised by his single mother; the fate of his father is unknown. Shy, quiet, awkward, and generally scorned by the other children, he was nonetheless daring enough to befriend Tifa Lockhart, who, unlike he, was popular and had plenty of friends. When Tifa tried to cross a rickety bridge to the mountains, he tried to stop her from crossing because of the danger; the bridge snapped, and he tried to hang on to her, but they both fell. Cloud escaped with only a few scrapes, but Tifa was knocked unconscious for a week. Hereafter, Cloud was even more scorned. When people accused him of hurting Tifa, he accepted those accusations, bearing the weight of it. Why? Because he blamed himself; he was too late to help her. Still, he was quick to defend himself, picking fights with the boys because their rejection of him still hurt.
Four years later, thirteen-year-old Cloud saw a chance to prove himself to the people in Nibelheim-especially to Tifa. He told her his plans to get into SOLDIER and become a First Class, one of the elite heroes, like Sephiroth. Cloud then promised Tifa that he would come to her rescue whenever she was in trouble. And then he left for Midgar, determined to be a SOLDIER and show everything he wasn’t a another trouble-making kid.
If only getting into SOLDIER was as easy as saying it. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but he couldn’t have imagined how difficult it truly was. He ended up failing, becoming a ordinary infantryman. The history between the moment he went for SOLDIER and the time he met Zack was glossed over, but one can imagine what Cloud went through. Frustration. Questions of “Why? I tried so hard, but my dream is still far away.” He didn’t even go home, because he didn’t want to show his face. Approximately two years passed; and it was during a snowy mission to Modeoheim that he met Zack Fair. Zack was everything he wasn’t-cheerful, out-going, friendly, popular, and in First Class. But from their first meeting, they got along well, and perhaps one reason was because Zack understood what Cloud and his dreams to become SOLDIER.
Another year passed. And he was still an army grunt. His only renown was his attempt to hold off a terrorist attacks for a few brief moments with a borrowed sword. And that was it. Little did he know that an investigation regarding the mako reactor in Nibelheim would be a turning point in his life. He, two other infantrymen, Zack, and Sephiroth were ordered to his hometown on a mission. They went to Nibelheim, and much to his own disgust, he suffered motion sickness on the way. Once they were at the gate of the town, he stuck his helmet over his head to hide his identity from the people. It wasn’t easy; Tifa was called to be their guide, and she had asked Zack about him. Eventually, he did reveal himself to his mother, who, like all mothers, worried about their children. During the week, after he was knocked out by some monsters, he told Zack that if he were in SOLDIER, he might be able to make a difference. Zack then bluntly said that SOLDIERs are monsters, leaving him confused. How was that possible?
He didn’t understand until Sephiroth set fire to Nibelheim. Although he had no great love for some of the people here, it was still his home. He couldn’t save his mother. And Tifa? His promise to her was running through his mind when he dashed into the mako reactor where Zack, Sephiroth, and Tifa were. He saw Tifa unconscious, and Zack sprawled across the stairs, both of bleeding.
Sephiroth, his hero, had become the enemy in just an instant. Angry, hurt, and devastated, he made the decision that would decide his fate forever. Despite being only a normal, non-mako-enhanced person, he snatched up Zack’s Buster Sword and rammed it through Sephiroth. He then made his way to Tifa, and she then knew that he had kept their promise. Unfortunately for Cloud, Sephiroth wasn’t dead yet and was irate that that someone like Cloud could actually think to injure him. Zack told Cloud to finish Sephiroth off, which he tried to, but Sephiroth stabbed him through the chest with his sword, and dangled Cloud at the end of it, telling him not to be cocky. But Cloud wasn’t one to be finished off that easily. He used the blade as a sort of lever and shoved Sephiroth into the mako reactor. Staggering and losing blood, he fell on the stairs near Zack and passed out.
This was hardly the end for him, however. When he awoke, he found himself in the clutches of Hojo, in the basement of the Shinra mansion. For four years, he was a specimen for Hojo’s experiments. The excess mako, coupled with Jenova cells, were too much for him to handle, and he became mako-poisoned-a comatose, vegetable-like state. He was deemed a failure by Hojo. But he wasn’t alone. Zack, who had also undergone the same experimentation, was little affected by it. He was able to break them out, and they were on the run for a year. Though his mind was blurry and he couldn’t remember much, he certainly did remember Zack. Not once did Zack think of leaving him. The former SOLDIER found him a change of clothes, helped him, protected him, and even talked to him in his unresponsive state. Their escape ended when they were found out. Zack dragged Cloud to a pile of large rocks, ruffled his hair, and walked away to fight an entire army. By this time, Cloud was more aware, and he reached out to Zack as if to tell him to stop.
He could only watch helplessly as Zack ferociously fought long and hard for their freedom. As the sky became overcast, he saw his only friend be shot down. While the rain started to fall, he managed to drag himself to Zack’s side, where Zack pushed the Buster Sword into his hands and told him to be his “his living legacy, the proof I existed.” When Cloud promised that, Zack closed his eyes and let his life slip away. Cloud let out a gut-wrenching scream at that moment, staring up at the sky and remembering Zack. He stayed like that for hours until the sun came out, when he stood and bid Zack good-night, walking away.
Somewhere on the road to Midgar, however, he lost himself. Presumably, the mako, the Jenova cells, and perhaps a little interference on Sephiroth’s part, Cloud’s memories became altered. Zack disappeared, the Nibelheim Incident was twisted, and he told himself that he was a former famous SOLDIER First Class who now hated Shinra. His personality drastically changed-he was arrogant, cold, and, so he thought-the personality a “cool” hero would have. Some of his mannerisms resembled Zack’s, but the former quiet boy that was once Cloud was missing. He dragged himself to the train station, where he was found by Tifa and cared by her until he recovered-or so he thought.
Still thinking he was an ex-SOLDIER, Cloud became a mercenary. His first job was blowing up a reactor with AVALANCHE, a terrorist group that believed the use of mako was killing the Planet. Even though he helped them, he said he didn’t care about the Planet. He was at odds with Barret, the leader of AVALANCHE. Tifa, however, held him to their promise, and he reluctantly agreed to continue to help in AVALANCHE’s endeavors.
But during one of their attempts to bomb a reactor, they accidentally destroyed a bridge, and Cloud fell into the Slums, which is under the Plate. He crashed through the roof of a church and landed in a flowerbed, where he met Aerith Gainsborough. After he said that he would be a bodyguard for her, Aerith said that she wanted to go out with him one date as a payment. He accepted this. They went out on a date, and Cloud saw Tifa being carted off to the mansion of Don Corneo. Cloud set out to rescue her-and it is here that he cross-dresses in order to get in. It turned out that Tifa was infiltrating the place because Don Corneo was a Shinra informant, and he told them that Shinra was on AVALANCHE’s tail. Not too long after, Sector 7was bombed, and Aerith was kidnapped because she was last of the Ancients (a race of people who could talk and hear the Planet). AVALANCHE rescued her from Hojo, and in the process picked up Red XIII, a red-furred creature that could think and talk like a human.
Unfortunately, the group was captured by Shinra and locked into cells. Strange thing was, during the night, Cloud woke up to find the doors were all unlocked. AVALANCHE then discovered President Shinra’s mutilated body, with a seven-foot sword sticking out of it. Cloud proclaimed that it was the work of Sephiroth, and after encountering Rufus Shinra and defeating him, they escape, Cloud on a motorcycle and the others in a pick-up truck. Midgar is no longer an option for them, so they head to Kalm. After reaching Kalm, Cloud revealed to the others his past history regarding SOLDIER, Shinra, and Sephiroth. His version, however, contained nothing on Zack, and while the others accepted his story with little question, Tifa is strangely silent. Cloud doesn’t note this and they continue on their journey. The mission-to hunt Sephiroth down.
To make a long story short, AVALANCHE travels through the Planet, picking up four others-Yuffie Kisaragi, a bratty, energetic ninja obsessed with materia, Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who is secretly a Shinra spy, Vincent Valentine, a former Turk who locked himself in a coffin to atone for his sins, and Cid Highwind, a crusty pilot whose every other word is an curse. After the Cid joined the group, it is discovered that Cait Sith is a spy controlled by Reeve Tuesti, and the robot stole an important artifact. AVALANCHE managed to reclaim it at the Temple of the Ancients, where they meet Sephiroth. He told them of his plans to attain the Black Materia, which he would use to summon Meteor. Meteor will destroy the Planet, and Sephiroth would absorb the Lifestream. Cloud was able to attain the Black Materia, but because, all along, Sephiroth had been controlling Cloud through the Jenova cells they both shared, Cloud was lead to give up the Black Materia to his enemy, losing consciousness afterwards.
Aerith, knowing that she could save the Planet, went to the Forgotten Capital to pray. Cloud, still under the influence of Sephiroth, followed her and nearly stabbed her but stops himself. At that instant, Sephiroth appeared from above and stabbed Aerith dead; the White Materia she used to summon Holy fell out of her hair and into the lake. When Cloud grieved for her, Sephiroth asked him, incredulously, “What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?” He left after telling Cloud that he was just a puppet. AVALANCHE went to the Northern Crater after that, where Sephiroth again extended his will over Cloud and tried to break him by revealing half-truths. Combined with Hojo’s words that Cloud was a failure, it does break him, and Cloud lost control, giving the Black Materia back to Sephiroth. Meteor was summoned, and Cloud fell into the Lifestream.
The group later found Cloud, mako-poisoned, in Mideel-his state is similar to the one he was in after he escaped from the Shinra Mansion. Tifa stayed with him, and during an attack by the Ultimate Weapon, the two of them fell into the Lifestream, and it is there that they find the real Cloud. Tifa’s memories, combined with Cloud’s, was able to sort out the lies that Cloud’s mind had connived and the truth of what really happened. It was then that Cloud finally remembered Zack, and how the Nibelheim Incident actually happened. He didn’t make SOLDIER, not even Third. He confessed this to AVALANCHE, and yet they still accept him as their leader. After traveling to Midgar and defeating the enemies there, AVALANCHE briefly split in order to deal with their own issues, and Cloud was left with Tifa. After all this time, the two are reconciled, and there is a small amount of hope in this grim time. The group then met to go to the Northern Crater and to defeat Sephiroth once and for all.
Sephiroth used two forms (Safer Sephiroth and Bizarro Sephiroth), but he was defeated all the same. There was a final battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, though it is one of the will, and Sephiroth was ultimately vanquished. There was still the problem of Meteor, however; Holy wasn’t strong enough to finish it off. As a last resort, the Planet used the Lifestream itself to obliterate Meteor. Midgar is destroyed in the process, but the rest of the world is save. The rebuilding then began, but it is not the end of the Cloud’s story.
A city is set up near Midgar’s ruins, called Edge. Rebuilding would have gone well if not for Geostigma, a non-curable disease that afflicted various people. Its symptoms are black marks that ooze black pus and cause the victim large amounts pain. The one less fights it, the faster one will succumb to it. The public blamed mako, though it is later revealed that the cause of Geostigma came from Jenova cells, controlled by Sephiroth’s will. When the cells invaded a person’s body, the body would try to fight it, but overcompensated. Geostigma was most prevalent among children because they had weaker immune systems.
In the midst of this, Cloud has set up a delivery service, and Tifa has set up a bar. Ever since he regained his memories, however, Cloud’s personality was changing. It was no longer that brash, cold exterior, but a personality that had hints of the old Cloud. Said personality was heavily clouded (no pun intended) by guilt-because he had forgotten Zack, and that he hadn’t been able to save Aerith. He withdrew into himself, though for a brief time when he and Tifa took in Denzel, he was more actively appearing, but after Cloud himself contracted Geostigma, he bitterly realized that he couldn’t save himself, now how was he supposed to save others? Without telling his friends of his condition, he disappeared and left to stay at Aerith’s church. But Sephiroth’s voice haunted him whenever the pain from Geostigma flared up. And Cloud lost his focus, wallowing in guilt. He appeared to be living in the past, mulling over his mistakes and forgetting what was ahead.
It took a hit over the head (figuratively) before he kicked himself out of his cycle of self-hate…
ABILITIES:
Usual-
(Breaking this into several sections)
Limit Breaks-
Braver
Cross-slash
Blade Beam
Climhazzard
Meteorain
Finishing Touch
Omnislash (any version)
Breakdown of First Tsurugi-
Also known as the Fusion Swords. It has six blades that can combine into one. The six blades are a Main Blade, a Hollow Blade, two Back Blades, and two Side Blades.
Other abilities-
- In the original FFVII, Cloud uses a total of sixteen different weapons. Points for capability in handling so many different kinds?
- Cloud is highly efficient in materia casting. His sword has slots in which he keeps his materia. He is not dependant on it, however, and can fight just as well without it.
With a limit-
1. Finishing Touch and Omnislash are locked.
2. Fusion Swords are a little heavier now.
3. Materia power is reduced.
4. Because Cloud is before events of ACC, he still has Geostigma. Meaning his powers were already limited because of disease. In anteceded, there's going to be even more of a limitation because of that.
Any other limitations that mods wish to place is fine by me.
PERSONALITY:
Cloud is very much a multi-layered person, and his personality goes through various changes. During his childhood, he was quiet and hesitant, but very much set in his goals. After the Nibelheim Incident and during the influence of Sephiroth, he developed a cocky, proud, confident sort of side. However, after his original memories were regained, Cloud became more sober, haunted, and critical of himself. Perhaps the three things of his personality that never changed is his want to appear strong, his want to help others, and his want to keep his promises.
Even at a young age, he had a sense of right and wrong. He knew he was different from the others. Generally a social outcast, he was still brave enough to try to befriend others like Tifa. When all her others friends didn’t try to stop her from crossing an old bridge, he was there. When he didn’t succeed, and people blamed him for hurting her (they had both fallen, Cloud with minor injuries and Tifa with major injuries), he took their blame. None of that childish, “I didn’t do anything! It was her own fault!” Sad to say, he was still a kid, and he fought with others, becoming notorious as someone who liked to pick fights. His reason for fighting was really to protect himself, and to show that he wasn’t a weak, short kid.
But Tifa didn’t forget him, and one night, when they secretly met, he pledged to be her hero when he became a SOLDIER First Class. And he would always keep this promise, despite bad timing and never making SOLDIER (an elite group of fighters under Shinra, the all-powerful company that runs most of the world). He wanted to be strong-to show the people and Tifa that he was something. He kept it when Sephiroth (Shinra’s greatest SOLDIER) went insane and burned his hometown down-and Cloud paid dearly for keeping the promise after attempting to kill Sephiroth but failing, and he was rewarded with a stab to his chest, then enduring four years of torture under an insane scientist, and finally being pronounced a failure.
Talk about shattered dreams. The awkward kid who wanted to become a SOLDIER became an experiment, pumped full of mako (the liquid form of the Lifestream, which is the stream of life around the planet) and Jenova (an alien being that Sephiroth calls “Mother”) cells that threatened to break him-he ended up getting severely poisoned to the point that he couldn’t do anything except breathe. Zack, his only friend during this time, managed to break the two of them out of their captivity, and for a year, they ran from Shinra. But they were tracked down, and Cloud could only watch as Zack was gunned down by an entire army. Before Zack died, Cloud made a promise to him-that he would be Zack’s living legacy, the proof that he existed. He stood up and dragged the Buster Sword away.
It was too bad for Cloud, however, that he couldn’t keep the promise-Sephiroth wasn’t dead, and, using the weak state Cloud was still in, twisted Cloud’s memories by hounding on his desire of wanting to be a SOLDIER. Enter Cloud’s personality change-in his mind, he was a cool, collected ex-SOLDIER who didn’t give a damn about people’s problems. Zack was forgotten. His promise to Tifa was mostly forgotten until she brought it up. He was downright rude and brash to the point of being a moody jerk, but no one, not even Sephiroth, can entirely rewrite a person’s personality. Deep down, Cloud was still the protective person with many unfulfilled dreams and promises. When he thought that Tifa was in danger, he went so far as to cross-dress in order to save her. Even though he tried to say that he didn’t care about the Planet or the people fighting for it, his actions say otherwise-he stayed on with AVALANCHE (the terrorist group fighting against Shinra and Shinra’s use of mako), even becoming the leader. And as time goes on, he’s no longer so much of a person trying to be a hero, but a person who is a hero.
But there are still things that have to be set straight. During the group’s journey to find Sephiroth, Cloud has encounters that push him to confront his past. His self-dreamed story of being in SOLDIER was still firmly in place, though it was gradually cracking. After Aerith died, he was becoming more unstable, and when he was bombarded with Sephiroth’s half-truths about himself and the blunt fact that he had been an failed experiment, he couldn’t take it. Always, always, he was being used by others-Sephiroth was using him, Shinra was using him. He was just a puppet. Those words broke his mind, and after falling into the Lifestream, the state of his psyche and body was in tatters. It took Tifa to help him find his true self-the Cloud of five years ago. No more Mr. I-Am-THE-Hero. He was disgusted with himself for losing himself to his dream and for letting Sephiroth take advantage of his mind. Even more so, he was hating himself for forgetting Zack and failing to save Aerith. How could he? The one friend that helped him when he was at his weakest, the one who didn’t give up even if he had a better chance of escaping alone. And Aerith-he could have saved her from Sephiroth, but all he had done was stand there and watch her die.
After Sephiroth was finally defeated, he took on a job that gave him plenty of time to muse over his faults and sins. Too much time, in fact. Cloud became more laconic and self-depreciating to the point that he was incommunicative. All he can think was that he was a failure, useless and incapable. When Geostigma (a disease caused by Sephiroth’s control of Jenova cells) appeared, he ran-figuratively and literally. Some hero he turned out to be; if he couldn’t take care of himself, how was he supposed to help others? He desperately wanted to appear strong, and so he hid from his family and friends (or, to be harsher, abandoned them) so that they wouldn’t see his weakness. In the process, Cloud was taking the coward’s route.
You can only run for a short time before you are found out, however. He was forced to confront his past when it was revealed that Geostigma was tied to Sephiroth and Jenova. Though he tried to put off fighting as long as he could, he realized he couldn't, not when Denzel (the boy Cloud and Tifa took in) and Marlene (the daughter of their friend) were put in danger. He asked if he could forgive himself? Did he want to be forgiven? The answer was yes, and at that moment things began changing. His actions followed this change, and one could see the change in his eyes. It was this change at allowed him, while facing Sephiroth for the third time, while bleeding from multiple wounds, and while being taunted, to realize he couldn't die like a coward. People depended on him, and he depended on them just as much. There were things he loved and cherished, and he could not let a madman take them away. In the end, he was able to smile and say, “Yeah...I'm not alone anymore.”
Cloud thinks himself weak, but he isn’t. He has every right to blame others for his circumstances, but he chose to blame himself for nearly everything. That feeling of responsibility is his greatest strength and his largest weakness. He wants to be strong in order to protect others and keep his word, but thinks that he must hide his weakness in the process. Gradually, though, he learns to understand that he doesn’t need to walk alone to accomplish his goals, but rather, depending on his friends and family is what makes him strong.
STATUS: N/A
SAMPLES
[SIDE A]
➀ [ Cloud (Legacy) & Edgar(Geoff) ] http://community.livejournal.com/edensphere_log/551788.html
➁ [ Cloud, Kadaj, & Sephiroth ] http://community.livejournal.com/discedo_logs/442145.html
➂ [Zack & Cloud] http://community.livejournal.com/discedo_logs/424936.html
( PERMISSIONS' LINK)