Cloud Strife
Extended Bio: Cloud grew up in Nibelheim, raised by a single mom. He lived next door to Tifa, the mayor's daughter, but was shy and went unnoticed by her. When her mother died, he followed Tifa to Mt. Nibel, but he failed to protect her when she lost her footing. He grew angry with himself and, deciding he needed to become stronger, made up his mind to join SOLDIER and become a great hero like Sephiroth. He called Tifa out to the well, and she made him promise to rescue her if ever she needed it. He left Nibelheim that spring, at the age of 14. Cloud enlisted, but he never actually made it into SOLDIER. At 16, he was assigned to accompany Sephiroth, Zack, and another trooper to Nibelheim, where there were reports of an increase in monsters. A trip to the reactor showed that it was malfunctioning and producing monsters, and that Professor Hojo was involved. He wasn't as closely involved as Zack, but Cloud did witness Sephiroth's fall into madness at the discovery of the experiment that created him. He was unconscious for some of the time that Nibelheim was engulfed in flames, and arrived at the reactor after the others who had gone to stop Sephiroth. There he found Tifa wounded, and helped her as best he could. He saw Zack fail to kill Sephiroth, and at his friend's behest, he went after Sephiroth himself and just barely managed to throw him into the reactor's Mako pit. Afterwards, Professor Hojo collected the survivors of the Nibelheim disaster and used them in the experiment which created the so-called Sephiroth clones. Zack finally managed to escape, taking Cloud with him, and the two hitched a ride to Midgar. Nearly there, Shinra troops caught up with them. Zack fought back and was killed. Cloud was left for dead, his mental state having deteriorated from the Mako and Jenova cells. Zack's death woke him some from his catatonic state, and he took his friend's sword and dragged it the rest of the way to Midgar. Tifa found him collapsed at the Sector 7 train station, and brought him out of it. Hojo's experimentation had created huge gaps in his memory, and he unwittingly filled them in with stories he had heard from Zack, forming the illusion that he had been a member of SOLDIER himself. He stayed with Tifa for a time, but had expressed an intent to move on when she told him about the AVALANCHE job. References in the Script:
First Appearance: The No. 1 Reactor Mission |