
Originally Posted by
Cloudane
She was afraid of what would happen - she says that in the Mideel bit. She probably thought it'd trigger a breakdown or something.
He does experience flashbacks, but he has conversations in his head too - when he falls into the church, when he's sleeping at Junon etc.
Come to think of it, when you go to the top-left room at HoneyBee you meet up with a ghostly manifestation of Cloud, so yes it probably is his real/other/younger consciousness rather than Sephiroth or whoever.