“Cloud has the most flashbacks of Aerith.”

“When asked what he cherishes most he thinks of Aerith”

I just want to pop up and address these for a minute. Because these belittle what Zack and everyone else was to Cloud. 

First off “what do you cherish most, give me the pleasure of taking it away”

Cloud says he cherishes EVERYTHING. He doesn’t say the thing he cherishes is already gone. 

Also, there is only ONE flashback of Aerith that is NOT her death. That is when he flashbacks to seeing her during the fight against Bahamut SIN. 

Every other flashback of her is her death. With Zack, he actually remembers things OTHER THAN HIS DEATH.

 If you want to get technical, the most flashbacks he has are of ZACK. Zack has the longest flashback sequence, made up of different moments, and then ends with his death. He actually can remember the moments he spent with Zack. With Aerith? It is nothing other than her death. There are no moments shown that he spent with her in FF7. There is no flashback of when he met her, no flashback of her smiling face when he buys a flower, no flashback of them at gold saucer, there is nothing. 

So I ask, why would he have so many flashbacks of Zack, including his death, yet only flashback to Aerith’s death and remember nothing about her?

If he had flashbacks of actual moments that are claimed to be important and romantic by shippers, then I’d be more accepting that he had romantic feelings for her that continued beyond death and he holds these moments close to his heart.

But there are none. 

One. One that is not her death and it’s a flashback of an earlier scene we saw in the movie.