He knew that memories of Nibelheim would sting if they ever came back to her so abruptly. He could see it in the way that she reacted to them already. But if anything, moving on to the next question instead of dwelling could only do them good now. Cloud didn't have any troubles answering her about how close they were. While they were considered childhood friends (others would say so too...)

"I kept my distance because I thought I was better than the other kids you hung out with, to be honest..." It was kind of hard to explain to someone who knew nothing about what he was talking about, even after the two of them had pieced his memories back together properly. What was he supposed to say? How much could he tell her? At this point nothing was really sacred and he knew that she would have been upset with him if he stopped now. Dropping his gaze from her only briefly as he found the right words, Cloud continued. "When your Mom died, you thought you could meet her again in Mt. Nibel. I followed you when the bridge broke and we fell...but I got blamed for the idea. Your Dad didn't really take well to me after that." His tone wasn't somber, though failing to protect her that one time and nearly losing her in the process had helped to spark his inspiration to join SOLDIER. If he was a hero, maybe he could impress her and save her just in time.

"We were friends, we just weren't as close as some people would think at first."