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i did get permission to start this thread from Chris himself.

i would like to try and make further sense of the story time line, so i would like to attempt and prove that Cloud and Zax were held by Shin-ra for five years.

Hypothesis: Hojo kept Cloud and Zax in the Shin-ra mansion for five years.

supporting evidence (gathered from Last Order and the game itself):

1.) In the short animated film "Last Order" Tseng, leader of the Turks referrs to five years ago several times. this only makes sense when Cloud is 21 years old (the age he is in the game), and after the Sephiroth incident. Five years before the Sephiroth incident Cloud would only be eleven years old. In the game we are not given any memories of Cloud at age eleven (i believe the youngest was twelve or fourteen).

2.)After Cloud escaped from Shin-ra (when Zax was assassinated) his mental state of 'diminishing consciousness' is much the same as when Tifa finds Cloud at the train station in midgar, only shortly before the first AVALANCHE bombing mission.

3.)Cloud and Zax were walking/hitchhiking from Nibelhiem to Midgar. It does NOT take five years to walk to Midgar. It would injure the entire story line if every trip to Nibelhiem and back took five years.

4.) Hojo would need time to study the effects of Jenova and Mako Radiation Therapy on his 'specimens' Cloud and Zax (five years perhaps?)

5.) there is a gap in Clouds memory. We have the escape from Nibelhiem, then nothing until the first bombing mission.

I also believe Cloud was poisoned during Hojos experiments, due to the comparison of his mental state after Hojos experiments, and his mental state after he washed up on the shores of Mideel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=3T55QS1psSw (Link to LO)

interesting... it seems pretty sound... I've always questioned Cloud and Zak's relationship... weird... KEEP DIGGIN!!!

they were held captive for 5 years but ur a little off with some things.
Zax was fine throughout the 5 years but something unknown happened to cloud puttin him into some kind of mental state. Zax and cloud escaped from their imprisonment and fled to Midgar. on there way into Midgar, Zax and Cloud were attacked by shrinra, cloud was mortally wounded and zax was killed.
somewhere on that day, tifa found cloud. 1 week after that incident, the game begins.

Hey, Zacks was so cool in the movie Last Order. It was so sad that he had to die, it would've been so cool to have him in the game.

I can't believe I forgot,
you don't have to go through all of that to think of that.
In the game, after you get Cloud in Mideel, you can go to the basement in the Shinra mansion and you'll see a movie of Cloud and Zack being used for experiments, and how they escaped.

Actually Last Order also puts thoughs details into perspective. Along with some other stuff I have read (but cannot recall were right now)


Zack and Cloud were both held captive and experimented on. Cloud though was near to death during the experiments and although they were probobly the cause of him pulling though them he was left in a veggie like state afterwards (Seen in the present day parts of Last Order where Zach is forced to protect Cloud)
Zach however was not as badly injured as Cloud during the experiments and he was actually improved slightly by the experiments. (which is seen with his increased ability, strength and speed when he is fighting of the torrent of soilders.)

During there escape (which is shown when Cloud reaches the basement of Shinra) Zack notices the Soilders attempting to kill Cloud. He jumps in the way and is shot (repeatedly) to death and Cloud escapes narrowly (but is injured in the process)

Although it does not show Zack die in Last Order I believe they do explain it in AC

i noticed that too.
also, sephiroth didnt jump into the mako; cloud threw him into it.