Sam Malone
You can try to fight this all you want,
And for once, her brown eyes stayed dry, as she watched him walk through that door.
She just pulled out her old beat-up suitcase.
It was empty, just like her.
But I won't be there, I won't be there, when you're all alone.
She realized, with a start, that she was tired.
Terribly, horribly, tired.
The kind of tired that comes with realization.
And Tifa Lockhart had finally realized that, as much as she was,
she just was not, would never be able to be enough to fix Cloud Strife.
And she was exhausted from trying.
This new season brings with it signs of hope.
Slowly, almost mechanically, and without thought she began to fold clothes.
Winter clothes.
She couldn't remember the last time she had worn a sweater,
but she figured it was appropriate for where she planned on going.
A land far, far away.
You can't leave me,( you can't leave me), waiting by the phone.
And I know, there is,
Almost like the beginning of a fairytale.
Why couldn't her life have turned out like a fairytale?
It had started out well enough.
She had been popular, beautiful, kind…
even had her very own knight in shining armor picked out.
But all the threads had frayed and torn.
Was this her punishment?
Some place I can go.
It didn't matter now.
She was not Vincent, or Cl—
him.
She would not torture herself for past sins.
She could only move forward.
She laughed at her calmness and sudden clarity.
It had taken long enough.
Where no one knows my name.
She wanted to run,
she wanted to hide.
She wanted to be just a face in the distance,
so close, yet so far,
just a memory.
…always, just a memory to him.
And I still remember,
She was tired of trying to compete with the dead,
and she was so turned around she wasn't even sure who her competition was anymore.
Aerith, Zack, Sephiroth.
He only lived in memories, nowadays.
Maybe hers just wasn't as special.
You know I can still hear your voice, your voice.
He had promised her,
once upon a time.
She could still remember the feel of the night chill on her legs.
She didn't blame him for failing.
Was it failing or forgetting?
She had been young and immature back then.
Who was she to put that burden on his shoulders?
She gladly took that promise back and locked it away tightly in her heart.
She had given her all to rescue him.
Her all was not enough.
Although your silence, your silence still rings so clear.
She had thought that they were a family,
but the silence at her rage was her only answer,
her indication,
that she was falling back in old habits again.
She did have a horrible problem of lying to herself.
Do you think,
Do you think I would call just to hear you breathe?
Walking to the door, she took one long look around,
and found nothing that she would miss.
How sad.
She paused seeing the phone on the bar counter.
Cradling it in her hands, she remembered the countless times
she had dialed a certain number.
She had his voicemail memorized.
It was all she had ever heard.
Breathe,
Breathe,
Breathe,
Breathe
She had stayed up all night last night watching the steady rise and fall of his chest.
She wondered if maybe, once she was gone,
he would remember her too.
Just a thought.
You always knew,
You always knew that just one word would dry up all my tears.
Sometimes she would fantasize about what it could've been.
He would have loved her, she would've loved him and they would've been happy and had lots of babies and sat in matching rocking chairs when they grew old and grey.
Usually, she would cry.
But she tells herself, maybe its better this way.
He's not like her,
he doesn't lie.
And I know there is.
Someplace I can go.
Where no one knows my name.
Where no one knows my name.
The door made a loud creak as it thudded shut behind her,
but she didn't look back.
It reminded her of the sound her heart must have made when it finally rusted shut.