>>718402776
Okay follow me:

Cloud was fine when he first got to Nibelheim. He was depressed and ashamed from washing out of SOLDIER. But physically he was fine. If we're counting Crisis Core as canon then Zack and Cloud were already friends prior to this but even in OG Zack was at least friendly to Cloud.

Anyway burning of Nibelheim, Cloud is taken by Hojo. Cloud is dunked into Mako per Hojo attempting to recreate Sephiroth without needing to cuck Vincent again, which caused his mind to shatter from Mako Poisoning. 5 years pass, Zack breaks them out. Zack is tough enough to retain his individuality against the bazillion voices swimming the Mako but Cloud is not. So while Zack can find the strength to recover, Cloud falls into a confused coma. Zack tells Cloud stories about his life as they travel to Midgar, which is where Cloud got inside information about how SOLDIER works while also not having information every SOLDIER should have. Like what Shinra's Tower is like.

And that's just it. The Cloud we see for 2/3rd of the game is a cobbled together golem of everything Cloud WISHES he could be. But the real Cloud, the Cloud has always been, that's still buried under all of that. And all of those lies, willful or not, can't make that go away. I think the most heartbreaking scene in the game is when Sephiroth demands Cloud give him the Black Materia in the Temple of the Ancients. And you can see real Cloud screaming and crying, begging himself to stop while he's powerless to do so.