Shifting Identities: Embracing the Hero Within

Prompt: Write a POV transformation story of a human reader (with a height of around 5.7 feet tall and 6 feet tall) turning into Cloud Strife (from the Final Fantasy video game series), complete with gender change (if the reader is a female; this change is optional for those readers who are females), instant clothes change (the reader's clothes instantly turning into Cloud's outfit from the game "Final Fantasy VII"), muscle growth, height change, age change (the reader instantly becomes 21 years old), reality change (the reader's real world becoming the world of Final Fantasy), and mind/mental change (with the reader's personality and memories being completely replaced with Cloud's personality and memories, despite the reader's best effort on fighting them off and despite his best efforts on keeping his own memories or personality (he is scared of losing himself and his life/mind/memories), making him forget all about being a mundane person, he only remembers that he has always been a swordsman and his name has always been Cloud Strife, and he knows that he has always been Cloud Strife and his life as Cloud Strife is his reality). The transformation is permanent (meaning it its forever) and is completely irreversible. Here is Cloud's appearance (according to Final Fantasy VII); he is a young man (173 centimeters (5'8") tall) with a lean and toned build, and spiky blond hair. Cloud has blue eyes, which glow due to him having being exposed to mako. Because "mako eyes" are iconic to members of SOLDIER, Cloud is often assumed to be one. He also does not have a beard, mustache, or sideburns. Cloud carries a large broadsword as his weapon of choice, with his three trademark weapons being the Buster Sword (a massive sword over five feet long), a set of Fusion Swords (six individual interconnecting swords that form one similar to the Buster Sword), and the Hardedge (another large broadsword with a different shape). He also has a silver earring in his left ear. Cloud's outfit/uniform comprises indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt and a belt. Cloud also wears brown boots, gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder and a SOLDIER band in his right wrist. Unlike the default uniform of the SOLDIER member, his is customized to exclude the right shoulder pauldron, likely to make it easier to draw his sword from behind him, while his left pauldron remains, albeit with protruding screws and bolts due to makeshift repairs. He also wears a gear-like armlet on his left forearm. Here is Cloud's personality; on the surface, Cloud Strife presents himself as a hardened warrior, cocky and headstrong, coldhearted and disinterested in anything beyond completing the hired job at hand. He tells others, often dismissively and with snark, that he has no interest in larger causes, such as the plight of the planet, and appears unshaken by the devastation the bombings he helped carry out cause. He is cool-headed, and mostly carries himself as an expert and professional. Beneath the surface, Cloud is socially awkward, being well-intentioned but unsure how to carry himself in conversations, having difficulties to express himself. Many who are close to him begin to see through the cracks in his hardened persona, recognizing he is softer deep down. Through it all, Cloud is steadfastly loyal to his friends, harboring guilt if he feels he has let them down, and strives to be a hero. He is willing to go through any lengths, from fighting off powerful enemies alone, to crossdressing despite the discomfort to don a disguise, to keep them safe. This, too, does not fool some of his friends, who in turn look out for him when they believe he is out of his depth. Though most traits core to Cloud — battle-hardened attitude, awkwardness, loyalty to his friends, and striving for heroism — do not change, Cloud's surface-level presentation and warmth shifts drastically throughout his life, based on his own yearning for a true identity. Many of these traits began to form as a child (depicted in Final Fantasy VII flashbacks), as seclusion from the others children and guilt at being unable to help Tifa at Mt. Nibel motivated him to better himself and become a hero, inspired by Sephiroth. While serving in Shinra's military (as depicted in Crisis Core), Cloud had a shy but happy-go-lucky attitude, eager to prove himself, and often got excited when Zack, who became a mentor to him, noticed him. Following Hojo's Sephiroth-clone experiments which led to his sense of self being completely shattered, Cloud as a mercenary (depicted in Final Fantasy VII and Remake) developed an arrogant personality, where he presented disinterest in a broader cause beyond collecting a paycheck (though interest in a common good occasionally slipped through and he harbored vengeance toward Shinra). Around this time, he also suffered many mental breakdowns upon being reminded about his past, up to the point of doubting he was even a real person, submitting to being a puppet for Sephiroth. After Tifa repaired his mind, Cloud was finally a fully-formed person, accepting who he was, resolving to being a hero not out of being special, but having a cause to believe in. He became warmer and more open-minded towards others, as well as a more confident leader, though the awkwardness would still shine through at times. Due both to Cloud's awkwardness and his tough presentation, Cloud struggles in forming interpersonal relationships. This is particularly evident with Barret; though Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie take more kindly to Cloud, Barret initially dislikes his attitude and questions his loyalties, leading the two to be rude to one another. After Barret sees through Cloud and gains respect for him, he begins to be able to open up with him and connect with him emotionally. Cloud was also not close with Tifa when the two grew up, although he felt an obligation to protect her. The two became closer and more reliant on one another after losing their home and reconnecting following the Nibelheim Incident. Cloud tried to atone for his perceived failure to protect her at Nibelheim, and Tifa in turn protected him as the last reminder she has of her home, looking out for him when she felt he is out of his depth. Cloud opened up more easily around Aerith, who was more flirtatious and playful with him from the start, though he would often respond stiffly and awkwardly to her advances. He still showed his softer side around her, more willing than others would to entertain her antics when she communicated with her flowers. Cloud is very protective of her and wishes to keep her out of trouble, though this grates on her. By contrast, Cloud trusts Tifa more to handle herself, confident in her combat ability, though he is still concerned for her well-being. It is implied that Cloud may have romantic affection for both Tifa and Aerith, but the extent of his feelings for either is left up to player interpretation. Cloud is greatly haunted by Sephiroth, a man he once idolized who became his bitter enemy. After the Nibelheim Incident, Cloud envisioned Sephiroth mocking him and urging him to make the wrong decision. This led up to Cloud giving in and believing he was little more than a puppet for Sephiroth, though after Tifa repaired his mind, Cloud resolved to rid himself and the world of Sephiroth. Following Sephiroth's defeat, Cloud, as depicted in Advent Children, became a surrogate father to Denzel and Marlene, but had become detached. His guilt at his own perceived failures to save Aerith and Zack, and trauma following his plight against Sephiroth, led him to feel helpless, becoming somber and brooding as he isolated himself from his new family, in contrast to his younger self before where it had fueled him to strive to do better. However, with encouragement from the friends and family he had tried to let go, he came to forgive himself and moved on. Here are Cloud's abilities; his greatest strength is in his swordsmanship. Though Cloud fell short of the standards of candidates admitted into SOLDIER, his swordsmanship nonetheless impressed one of the Turks. As a result of mako experimentation by Hojo, Cloud was greatly enhanced as a supersoldier, with superhuman strength, speed, and agility. This, coupled with him incorporating Zack Fair's fighting abilities into his own, made him capable of easily handling other SOLDIER members and Turks. In time, Cloud developed skills on his own, independently from Zack. Cloud has many swordsmanship techniques, seen most prominently in his limit breaks. The most potent and noteworthy of these is Omnislash (and Omnislash Version 5 with his Fusion Swords), in which Cloud performs a quick succession of powerful strikes from his sword. Cloud's abilities also allow him to use magic from his sword, seen in the form of firing a blast from his sword with Blade Beam, summoning meteors with Meteorain, or a tornado with Finishing Touch. Beyond this, Cloud is potent with using spells, being well-versed in how to use materia; in both Final Fantasy VII and Remake, his in-game stats put him ahead of most party members in spellcasting. Cloud can ride a motorcycle, and demonstrates particular feats of skill with it, able to use his sword while riding and battle nearby drivers. He can also ride a chocobo or a snowboard, and Zack notes he is adept at scaling a snowy mountain. Cloud has also shown himself adaptable in a variety of situations, reviving a drowned girl with CPR in Junon, or dancing at the Honeybee Inn. Cloud's interpersonal skills are initially very poor. When he matures and becomes fully formed, he becomes a confident party leader, motivating the party with speeches before their big battle with Sephiroth. The story is that the reader is minding his/her own business, but then the world changes around him/her before he/she started to transform against his/her will, completely turning his/her body, gender (if the reader was female before the transformation, her breasts would flatten to nonexistence, as her body losses its curvy feminine nature and her face becomes less feminine and more masculine, while her voice becomes deeper and more masculine due to her throat growing an Adam's apple like all males, and her vagina, ovaries, and uterus inverts itself and grow into testicles and a penis; however, this change is optional for those readers who are females), height, age, voice, and outfit into those of Cloud Strife. Shortly afterwards, his mind becomes swirly as it is becoming foggy or fuzzy, as his personality and memories are being completely replaced by those of Cloud Strife, making him both dizzy and scared. The voice then echoes in his head, telling him that this is his true self and that his previous self or life was not real, being only a dream/daydream, telling him that he had always been a brave swordsman named Cloud Strife, and telling him that he is returning/turning back to normal (Cloud Strife is the reader's true/real self). The voice continues to rewrite his personality and memories, until they had been completely replaced by Cloud's personality and memories, making the reader, now Cloud Strife, truly confused on what was he doing a moment ago, confused on why was he just standing and doing nothing, and confused/fully unaware of what just happened a moment ago (he questioned on what just happened), being completely unaware of his previous self or life as a mundane person (Cloud just passed that weird moment as a headache or a strange daydream while on duty, nothing important), and he knows that he had always been Cloud Strife, how also knows that his hometown has always been a small rural town of Nibelheim (even though he doesn't live there now), he has always been part of the rebel group AVALANCHE, and he has always belonged in his world (he knows that he was never a mundane person to begin with and instead a hero). There should also be quotes from the characters in this story so we know what they're saying and what they're thinking. Also, it is a POV reader story, so it should not be in an author's point of view (my, I, mine, etc), and it should be from the point of view of the reader (you, your, etc).