Ah... here it is. Lost it for awhile in the new posts.

Quote Originally Posted by Aralith
Why, you're right Ryushikaze, I did get a bit off topic. Didn't even realize it. I apologize. To stay on topic, I will only say this. In the game, one is given the choice as to who they care for more, and this can most certainly be seen as love.
Uh, no? In the game, you- as a player- can do numerous things, both direct and ancillary, to determine which girl likes Cloud better. This process really has nothing to do with Cloud.

As for outside of the game, there are a few points on each side, but AC didn' really answer that question. However, I still say that Cloud loves Aerith.
Actually, one can use in game things as evidence, provided it's not variable, or the variables wind up more or the same.
Of course, saying is all and good, but remember, I am wanting points to be supported by evidence.

First off, in AC, Cloud is still lamenting over Aerith's death. Still blames himself, and still feels unforgiven. He feels the same way about Zack, but his connection with Aerith's death seems much more personal.
Actually, given that he vists Zack's grave, and keeps thinking about him, wheras it takes Aerith actually using her power to contact him, it would seem Zack's death is the more personal.

In the case of Zack, there wasn't much he could do, but with Aerith, he felt that if he hadn't been controlled by Sephiroth at that time that he could have stopped it.
Uh, evidence?

Also, he is living in Aerith's church, and is constantly talking about being forgiven. It is clear that Aerith's death still haunts him in a much deeper way than it haunted anyone else. Perhaps more than he should be.
This was not so until his geostigma began afflicting him. When he and Tifa visited Aerith's grave after FF7, he was not haunted by it, and he was actually quite happy for awhile, until a period where he began becoming much more distant, a distance which was started by his contraction of Geostigma.

Though Cloud was up there on the alter being controlled by Sephiroth, it was as much his fault as anyone's elses. It wouldn't have mattered if Tifa was up there. Sephiroth would still have come down and killed her. There are a number of things blinding Cloud from this truth, but I believe that love is one of them.
Had anyone else been up on that platform, it is entirely likely, and in fact most probable, that they would feel a similar guilt. It is the guilt of a survivor who could not help save the fallen. It is an irrational guilt, commonly called survivor's guilt, and to be frank, Cloud has it in spades. Zack, Aerith, his entire hometown. In fact, such survivor's guilt explains Cloud's bizarre thoughts that he cannot actually save anyone, and his reticence to go out to try and save others, in the case that he fails and has do deal with similar guilt again. Cloud wants to be forgiven, yes. He thinks he has a lot of failures for which he needs to be forgiven. Love does not necessarily follow.

Love can make people feel things that they shouldn't. It is not dissimiliar to when a child feels responsible for the divorce of his parents, or when a woman may think that she drove her partner to cheat on her. Neither of these are true, but love blinds them from that. I believe the same thing happened to Cloud, and this is part of the reason why he blames himself for Aerith's death so terribly.
Cloud perceives the Geostigma as a punishment for his failures. This, along with survivor's guilt, is more than sufficient to explain his behaviour, without invoking a love for Aerith which really has no evidence in its favor.

However, this is not enough to make a true thesis, so I will present more evidence. In AC, Tifa and Cloud had been living with each other until quite recently before he moved to Aerith's church. This means that they had been living together for almost two years. Two years! I mean, I know that Cloud doesn't like to open up about his feelings, but don't you think that he would have made a move on her by then? It is quite obvious in the movie that they are not "together" in the sense of a boy/girlfriend relationship, so I don't really understand how their love (because she obviously loves him) could remain unspoken for so long.
Wait, who said that it remained unspoken? Nomura said of Tifa that she was a lover, a Koibito, and Nojima said that the very first thing made concrete about the movie was that Cloud and Tifa would be together. Heck, CoT has a scene which shows that if Cloud and Tifa do not share a room, then they are at least so used to being in each other's rooms at night while the other is asleep that Cloud is completely and utterly unphased by her presence next to him as he awakes.

Still not nearly enough, but it's a start. It's been a while since I've watched AC, so I'll go and watch it and then come back here and post some more evidence. In the meantime, someone post some rebuttals to my points. I do always love a good debate.
Oh yes. If we can get some more people involved, that would be kickin. And I'll try and get my original argument in shortly, but I'm attempting to be comprehensive, starting with Cloud's life in Nibleheim and working from there.