loveless

Right before they go into the Northern Crater at the end of Disc Three, Cloud can have a chat with Cid about the play LOVELESS. As fans of the FFVII Compliation know, LOVELESS ended up being a major plot point in Crisis Core. In FFVII, there was just an ad for it in Sector 8 of Midgar, and Cid's monologue about it.

They've been doin' that play every summer since I was a kid. An' I remember seein' it just once... That was when I was in Midgar interviewing to be a pilot. I had some free time and thought I'd catch the play. Now, I'm no big fan of the theater or anything. But this thing put me to sleep, just like I thought it would. Finally during the last scene, the guy next to me woke me up tellin' me my snorin' was too loud. So about all I really remember of that play is the end...

The sister of the lead asks her lover, Do you really have to leave?

And the guy says, I promised. The people I love, are waiting.

......I don't understand. Not at all. But...... please take care of yourself.

Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here.

I remember thinking when I heard those lines, *&%! What the hell's he talkin' about? But, you know... now I'm not so sure... I think I understand......

When this job's done, I'm landing the ship... yeah, that's what I'll do.

This was, uh, completely retconned out of Crisis Core, but we'll ignore that. First of all, Cid's narcolepsy has clearly been a problem his entire life. I mean, the guy voluntarily goes to a play and then sleeps through it. Good work, Cid.

I've always really liked these lines, though, and especially what they mean for Cid. The game never tells us where any of the characters go when Cloud tells them to find their reason to fight, and I'm glad it doesn't — it's the kind of thing that's best left up to the player to fill in for themselves — but it's pretty damn obvious that Cid went back to see Shera. And they probably had a conversation that wasn't so far off from the one in LOVELESS.

Now that Cid's achieved his dream of going into space, I could easily see Shera asking him why he feels he needs to go see the fight through to the end. It'd be safer for him to stay out of it, safer for him to leave it to the rest of AVALANCHE, who have more personal quarrels with Sephiroth. But Cid's not the kind of person who can just step away from something like this, and I think that's exactly why he did return.

The rest of the lines can easily be read as a promise from Cid to Shera to come back. I think it's important how it's phrased, in particular: Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here. Shera doesn't owe Cid anything after all they've been through, and Cid isn't asking her to promise him, either. But he knows her very well, and knows that she's going to be there waiting for him, if only to make sure he's all right.

Like I mentioned on the Shera page, most of their relationship is offscreen. But I don't think it's off base to read this passage as about them, and I like that it implies the beginning of their relationship being mended.

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