Sucking in a slightly shuddering breath as he was suddenly shaken a little, Cloud blinked. Nodded almost out of pure reflex only. The words were familiar, if for a situation that hadn't happened before, and he'd been told this, but it wasn't easy for it to sink in.

"But if I just..." If he'd been SOLDIER, if he'd held on a little longer, if--- Cloud shook his head, let the weight of the hands on his shoulders, like the hug when he'd seen (his) Zack again center him for the moment and nodded.

"Yeah. You... he?" a pause and an annoyed frown, "survived. Tifa did too." Cloud didn't even notice he smiled a little, then, happy that both this world's Tifa had survived as well as his. "I... guess that's what counts."

Even if it still did feel like he should've done better.