That Starry Night

Cloud sits nervously on the water tower's ledge as he anxiously awaited her arrival. The fourteen-year-old boy kicks his legs back and forth as he sat on the edge of the wooden ledge, fiddling his fingers as he did so. It had been tricky trying to sneak out of his house without waking up his mother. Cloud had never snuck out late at night before and he didn't know what he would do if his mother ever found out about his secret rendezvous. It was bad enough seeing her sorrowful tears after he broke the news to her that he was planning to become a member of SOLDIER. He couldn't blame her, really. She had already lost her husband and to lose a son would be very devastating.

No, I won't die. I'll do everything I can to stay alive. For your sake, mom.

A breeze blows by and teenage Cloud shivers in response. He had come to the water tower about five minutes earlier than planned out of anxiety and didn't account for the chilling night air. Wearing only a white t-shirt and green shorts, he wished he had brought along a jacket for good measure. However, he didn't account that she'd be late. He looks down at his fidgety hands, thinking that maybe she had forgotten all about him.

Minutes later, the sound of footsteps broke the boy's concentration from his hands and he turns to see a dark brown-haired girl in a bright cerulean dress with matching sandals take a seat on the adjacent side of the wooden square platform.

"Hey, Cloud. Sorry I'm late."

"Hi, Tifa."

Cloud didn't know how to start this conversation he planned on having. He had always had a little crush on the girl, but never was able to even speak to her. What made things different now? Cloud thought hard, wanting to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to say anything that might upset the girl, who was still reeling from the recent death of her mother. Granted her father, too, wouldn't be very happy to know that she had snuck out late, especially to meet a boy no less. Perhaps that was why she spoke first.

"So, why did you want to meet me here? You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

The spiky-headed boy takes a deep breath and lets his thoughts be heard. "Coming this spring… I'm leaving for Midgar."

Upon hearing his answer, Tifa looks down at her bare legs and gives a half-hearted kick. "All the boys are leaving town."

"But I'm different," declares Cloud, standing up. "I'm not just going to find a job. I'm planning to join SOLDIER, to be like Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth…" repeated Tifa, recalling the name somewhere. "The Great Sephiroth?"

"Yeah," affirms the boy, climbing up to the top of the water tower.

"Isn't it hard to get into SOLDIER?" wonders Tifa, pulling one knee close to her.

"Mm-hmm," nodded Cloud. "… I probably won't be back in town for a while."

The girl began giggling as she thought of what would happen should Cloud become as famous as Sephiroth.

"Huh?" exclaims the boy, curious as to what the girl was laughing about.

"If you make it, are you going to be in the newspapers and everything?" she asks him inquisitively as she looks up at the boy.

"I'll try to," asserts Cloud.

Tifa looks up at the blonde-haired boy with a smile. "Hey, let's make a promise."

Cloud looks down in curiosity, wondering what it was he could possibly promise her.

"Umm…" began the girl, not really sure how he would react to her request. "If you get really famous… and I get in a real bind… you'll come save me, right?"

"What?" exclaims Cloud, not really sure what to make of her request. He began remembering how he had failed in saving her from the falling off the Mt. Nibel bridge when they were younger. How she ended up in a three-day-long coma and how Mr. Lockhart blamed him for getting her hurt so badly. Even with his mother's comforting words, Cloud kept blaming himself for not being strong enough to save the one person he cared about a lot.

"If I'm ever in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me," explains the girl, recalling some bedtime stories her mother used to read to her back when she was still alive. "I want to experience that at least once."

"What?" Cloud exclaims once again. He knew he was weak in the past, but maybe, just maybe, getting into SOLDIER will change all of that.

"Come on! Promise me!" Tifa responds impatiently. More than anything she wanted Cloud to be the one to save her; no one but him. She still remembers how her former "friends" left her when she went looking for her mother on Mt. Nibel and how Cloud stayed with her, even though he knew he probably couldn't do anything. When she saw the boy start fights after her coma, she felt guilty. She didn't know how to make things up to him, but at least she knew that he would always be there for him. And at the very least, she would be there for him as well.

"All right…" nodded Cloud. "I promise."

The two children look up at the starry night sky and watch in awe as a shooting star sails across the dark depths, sealing their innermost wishes.