"Aerith," Cloud clarified. "That was her name." He stepped a little closer. Wanda seemed comfortable enough with him, but he was still concerned he might spook her. Cloud knew a thing or two about being caught, and about being stubborn in the face of it.
"I do remember important things," he went on. "Not all of them, probably, but a lot. I remember my mother. I remember my best friend. I remember the pretty girl next door, and how badly I wanted to impress her." Many of those memories had been carefully pieced together by Tifa in the Lifestream. They appeared to Cloud now like images in stained glass windows rather than clear narratives. Everything before his twenty-first year had been shattered, and only some of it had been salvageable. Cloud was twenty-four, now, but there were days when he felt like he was fifty. Life hadn't been easy. Still, Cloud had come to see that life had been oddly kind. He had a family, and friends, and a purpose. He had kept his promise to Zack. He had lived. He had honored his best friend's sacrifice.
"A gift? A gap in a fence?" Cloud raised an eyebrow, eyes still hidden behind his tinted bike goggles. "You're going to have to explain that one to me." Though he had his suspicions, again thanks to years spent around Yuffie.