Ah, age old rumors and such about Cloud and Aerith.
"Aerith never met the real Cloud."
When you see the Nibelheim fire (again), Sephiroth makes the comment of something like, "...the real you...the one who gave me the Black Materia that day." This is before Cloud goes missing, so I'm talking about the first time Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black Materia, at the Temple of the Ancients. Aerith is there. You see the child Cloud trying to stop the adult Cloud from giving Sephiroth the Black Materia. By what Sephiroth said, that MUST have been the real Cloud, and Aerith was there. Another thing, Cloud was the one who put Aerith in the Lifestream in the first place. He even says that she got stuck in there. When Cloud discovers himself, he's in the Lifestream. Aerith clearly knew that Cloud was not Zack, and she fell inlove with him knowing that. Some quotations from Maiden Who Travels the Planet also indicate that she knew the real Cloud. “Cloud… I miss you. I miss the real you…”, “Aerith delved into her memories again. Memories that showed Cloud’s individuality.”, “She was happy she now knew the real Cloud, and was able to watch over him.” Indicating that Aerith had indeed watched over Cloud through out the game.
"Cloud can't love Aerith—she's dead!"
When someone close to you dies, does that mean you stop loving them?
"Cloud said he wasn't interested in an older girlfriend."
This is a bit irrelevant, although Aerith was a year older than Cloud, but he was 16 at the time, and had little or no knowledge of relationships. And most likely stopped caring about having any sort of feelings towards girls, once he left Nibelheim.
"Just because Aerith says she "wants to meet the real Cloud" doesn't make her love him."
If she wasn't falling for him, why would she bother saying this in the first place?
"Just because Cloud is a Leo and Aerith is an Aquarius, doesn't make them a perfect match."
Who said it did? It's just pointless fun. But a lot of Square characters act a lot alike by their signs.
"Cait Sith's fortunes are all lies."
Not necessarily. Though, he isn't even a real fortune teller. But his fortune "What you pursue will be yours, but you will lose something dear" did happen. Cloud pursued his revenge against Sephiroth, and he lost something dear—Aerith.
"When Cait Sith says "What you pursue will be yours" he's talking about Tifa."
Cloud was pursuing Sephiroth. His main goal was to stop Sephiroth and settle his past.
"Cloud was too caught up in his life-crisis to fall inlove."
Yes and no. Of course his main priority was to go after Sephiroth, but in the midst of it all, he did fall inlove. You cannot necessarily pick and choose who you fall inlove with, right? It just happened.
"Cloud forgets about Aerith after her death."
This is false. There are many times where he mentions her. More than anyone else.
"The only possible way Cloud could love Aerith was because he was being like Zack, and Zack loved Aerith."
There is a fine line between love and like. Zack was known as a "lady's man" as Aerith would put it. He did like her a lot, which explains why he wanted to go back to Midgar. But I guess there is no definitive proof that he loved her or not... But Cloud himself most certainly did. After he finds himself, he still shows feelings towards her.
"Cloud and Tifa have a past."
That doesn't mean they were destined to fall inlove. Many people have a past with close friends but not many actually become lovers. And their 'past' wasn't really all that special when you think about it.
"Cloud hasn't forgotten his old feelings for Tifa."
Of course not. That doesn't mean he still feels that way towards her. He was only a kid when he had a crush on her and that doesn't mean it turned into love when he was an adult. More details here.
"Cloud saw Aerith as a SISTER FIGURE!"
This never made sense to me... Because no one ever backs this up. I think Cloud saw Tifa as a sister figure and I say that because they came from the same town. That was their connection to eachother. But that was all.
"When Cloud saw Aerith's hand at the end, it turned into Tifa's. That was Cloud's decision to choose Tifa over Aerith."
Yet, I find it ironic how the first words out of Cloud's mouth are about Aerith.
"At the end of the game, Tifa's theme is mixed with Cloud's theme."
...Cloud doesn't have a theme?
"Aerith is a slut! Her dress is unbuttoned up to her crotch."
Ahahaha. It's been forever since I've heard this one. Aerith is not promiscuous, if that's what you're getting at. She may have been with Zack, loved Cloud and Tseng may have been interested in her, but it's not like she had sex with any of them. Promiscuity refers to not limiting your sexual partners. Aerith did not have a sexual relationship with any of them; Zack maybe, but that was not proven. And that's only one person anyway. She may have flirted with Cloud, flirting and having sex with someone are two different things. Her dress is usually unbuttoned to there in official artworks, by Tetsuya. He is obviously a perverted Japanese man, explaining why he draws Tifa's boobs so huge. Her dress is unbuttoned to her knees in FMV's, which are from the actual game. This is just a stupid excuse people use to make Aerith look bad, the same goes for people saying Tifa had breast implants. Grow up.
"Just because Cloud and Aerith are in other games together it doesn't mean anything."
Hmm. It kind of does. They have been in numerous games together, in which those game included significant quotes and scenes. Don't you think Square is hinting something? They obviously like to put those two in several other games, that aren't apart of the compilation, for a logical reason.