Could Aerith be?

A theory that’s been swimming around in my head that came after replaying Remake and Rebirth is that these “Worlds” as they are shown and explained are not full copies of the planet as we know it, but the certain areas where fate is defied.

For example, all of the Zack World’s are shown to only be in Midgar with no news coverage of outside events.

This makes sense if we assume that these “Worlds” only encompass the space as the Whisper domes that we see in remake and rebirth.

The first whisper dome is shown surrounding Midgar, which then makes sense that anything beyond Midgar, does not exist in this world.

The second whisper dome (potentially, since we don’t get a clear shot of the outside of the FC during this event) surrounds the forgotten capital where Cloud (potentially) saves Aerith.

We learn at the end of Rebirth, that Aerith has already talked to Cloud about her staying behind at the forgotten capital at some point off screen.

This lines up with her saying at the lake “I’ll see you off” and Cloud later saying “You gonna be okay getting back”, she evens talks about stopping Meteor to which seemingly is the reason she gave to Cloud why she needs to stay behind.

My initial thoughts about this were that the only reason for this was so Cloud doesn’t look like a crazy person talking to his dead girlfriend in front of the party, but maybe it is more so that even if she wanted to, she CAN’T leave the forgotten capital, because the world in which she exists only encompasses the Forgotten Capital and potentially some space around it.

This setup’s an interesting theory that when our Characters return to the Forgotten Capital, Cloud will be able to see her again, since his mind is caught between the main world, and this new world where she’s alive.