Cloti

Cloti is the het ship between Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart from the Final Fantasy fandom.

Canon
Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart were born in the mountain village of Nibelhiem. Tifa was popular with the local boys who tired to impress her. Cloud would often get into fights with the other boys. Cloud and Tifa were not friends, nor were they close during this time. When Tifa was eight years old she suffered an accident that injured her and Tifa's Father the village blamed Cloud for it. Five years later, Cloud decides to leave Nibelhiem and become a SOLIDER. Tifa one night asks Cloud to promise to rescue her if she ever got into trouble. Cloud travels to Midgar and fails to make SOLIDER and joins the army as a Shinra MP instead.

Cloud eventually returns to his hometown during the Nibelhiem Incident. Tifa is not aware that one of the grunts is Cloud since he spends the whole mission hiding his face under his helmet in shame and embarrassment. Upon learning the secrets of his heritage, the first class SOLIDER Sephiroth goes insane and massacres Nibelhiem, killing Tifa's father and Cloud's mother. Tifa confronts Sephiroth but is injured and falls unconscious. Cloud is able to defeat Sephiroth toss him into the Lifestream, fulfilling his promise even if he didn't make SOLIDER.

Five years later, Cloud reappears in Midgar and is discovered by Tifa. He joins AVALANCHE as a mercenary. Tifa notices that Clouds memories do not match her own but does not say anything in fears of disturbing him. A resurgent Sephiroth exploits this to manipulate Cloud into giving his the Black Matra and calls upon its power to end the world. Tifa reveals to Cloud the truth and is able to help him realize that he had created and was living false persona. With this knowledge Tifa and Cloud go on to confront Sephiroth and save the world.

Fanon
Cloud/Tifa has been extremely popular since 1997. It's lowest point was a couple years after the game came out, having to compete with Clerith. Since then as more people have played the game with the benefit of hindsight more people began shipping Cloti in comparison to Clerith. Today Cloti has significantly more material compared to Clerith and many straight fans seem to prefer it as their FFVII OTP. It is the most popular Final Fantasy VII ship and one most popular ships in the entire series. It remains popular not only with fans but also producers at Square Enix and is today one of the best known video game ships.

Fandom
AO3

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