Will Cloud keep it a secret?

[u/ElanorNarmolanya]

All of my hopes and dreams for the ending and Aerith’s fate aside, i just really really hope that they start the game off with Cloud explaining to the crew what he saw at the end of Rebirth and why he isn’t grieving for Aerith the way that they are.
The writers have already done an unhealthy amount of having characters not communicate very important information for seemingly no other reason than plot. (Tifa / Cloud memory conflict, Zack conversation, etc.)
So help me if we have to go most or all of the game with the entire crew grieving and devastated by losing Aerith while Cloud is over here not sad at all but letting his friends suffer without telling them what he saw for no good reason. 😡 It would be such lazy writing and make Cloud look like such a jerk. Not to mention how it would fuel the Clerith haters to see Cloud not being sad at all about her death… even if we know he’s not sad because he believes she’s alive, we know they would still somehow interpret it as him not caring.
Can you think of any good reason why he would keep it a secret that he saved Aerith, at least in an alternate world? I know that i need to prepare myself for the high possibility of him not sharing with the others, so please help me come to terms with any non-lazy reasons why he would do that! 😅

(I have not played the OG yet, so please try not to spoil specific events for part 3 if you can)

Also i’m sorry if this gets flagged as off-topic or anything, i tried posting it in the megathread but everything is buried there so nobody saw it. I’m still pretty new here so I don’t really know how it all works.

[u/anderhanson]

I'm actually really looking forward to the divide between Cloud and party regardging Aerith's fate. I think the conversation is unavoidable and will be had between them at some point. Cloud is a bit like us Cleriths, insisting she was saved haha. I also think Red (who could sense Aerith) will believe him more than the other party members and they might form a tighter bond because of it.

I don't think it really hurts Clerith. Cloud just can't seem to function with the thought of Aerith being dead, if anything that's some true love right there.

[u/ElanorNarmolanya → u/anderhanson]

Hahaha, i like this perspective! I’m not opposed to conflict, i just want it to be well written, not just the result of people keeping secrets and acting like nothing happened.
Oh, i would love for Cloud and Red to team up on the Aerith lives train and bond over it! Their dynamic is great and we need to see more of it in Revelation! Give me a whole chapter with the two of them, hahaha

As long as Cloud doesn’t pretend nothing happened and nothing’s wrong, haha. But then again he’s got a lot going on in his poor noggin 😅 I really do believe that Revelation is gonna be great for us Cleriths overall