Shattered Dreams & Sleeping Pills Chapter 3
There's No Such Thing
By WindWolf
It wasn’t the darkness, she decided, so much as there was no natural light. The plate above blocked out everything the sky had to offer. The beautiful sunrises, the sun, the rain, whether it be a light shower that would give you a rainbow, or a violent storm with thunder and lightning, a clear, cloudless day, the glorious sunsets, the moon, the stars…
The stars. There were so many memories to be had under the stars. She could clearly remember stargazing with her mom during a camping trip up in the mountains. But even more prominent was the memory of a promise made by the well on a cool March night.
There was to be a meteor shower that night, but few were seen. Tifa remembered seeing one though, right after she had pushed Cloud into making his promise to her. It had been a stupid, childish act. Cloud had every reason to ignore the promise all together, and she couldn’t blame him for doing so. She had been trying to cling to someone she barely knew, even though he was her neighbor.
"If I’m ever in trouble, my hero will come rescue me. I want to experience that at least once." It was perhaps the stupidest sounding thing she had ever said. She wanted a hero, a knight in shining armor, someone who would sweep her off her feet and carry her away on his white horse to his beautiful castle. Cloud was hardly the type of person to do anything like that. He was the withdrawn, quiet, brooding type. So why had she made him promise to protect her?
Not that the promise did her much good anyway. Her home had still been burnt to the ground, her life had still been shattered, and she had still nearly died. Where was her hero when she needed him? Most likely hanging out with some of his SOLDIER buddies, not worrying or caring. How could he have known that his idol was destroying his hometown?
Promises are made to be broken, loves to be lost. Friends are made to be there for you, except for when you need them. Families are made to care for and guide you, but leave you high and dry when you need to be cared for and guided the most.
There are no such things as heroes. They exist only in fairy tales, along with the unicorns and dragons. The people of this world don’t care about one another, they have more important things to worry about. You can’t depend on anyone but yourself. Midgar had taught her that. The city had worn away her country ideals and exposed her to the truth of the harsh, cold, and uncaring world. It was perhaps the most important lesson she had ever learned.
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