Burning Bright

Standard disclaimer applied

That day, when she left the house, the voice calling out to her said the same as any other.

"Be nice and don't do anything that won't make you proud when you're older."

Everyday her response was the same, a sound of acknowledgement, an empty promise and eyes that were rolled behind a closing door for she was only a child who cared little about the future and how her actions would shape it. It was all about the here and the now and the how she could get that cute boy who lived at the end of the lane to notice her when everyone else was vying for his attention as well. But that cute boy it seemed had the makings of a ladies man it seemed and after accepting Tifa's words and smiles and calculated gestures with a children's kiss, he was doing the same to another girl not ten minutes later.

But she didn't care all that much about him and who he kissed, she only wanted to match the other girls for while she wasn't entering the boy crazy phase like the others, she rather likes being popular. And as the others started figuring it out she walked past the small groups, glad that she had some time to herself where she didn't have to pretend to be some airhead not so little girl.

Neibleheim was a site with a Mako reactor and the sayings were true. There wasn't much there except for dusty knees, dusty dreams and dusty everything else. Even back then a piece of her longed to get away from the small dust town and when she was the sad little boy around her age that distant part of her knew that he just might be the one to rescue her. She'd seen him around before and her reminded her of herself back when her age group wasn't old enough to form clichés and she wasn't old enough to be deemed popular, a word she never understood.

Looking at him with his hair of sunlight and gravity that was defied mysteriously she felt the urge to walk on over, plop herself next to the boy who shone untouched by all the dust swirling around them and strike up a conversation but voices were nearing and she scurried on past him without so much as a look back as she hid behind the corner of a building like she was in trouble. The small group passed on and she remained there, watching as the boy occupied his time with playing by himself. That's what she did, she watched and watched and felt every inch of a stalker that her father brought home tales of but she didn't mind for that little boy around her age carried something inside of him that nobody else had and it had her rooted to the spot like the earth beneath her had grown hands specifically to hold her in place.

But time wore on and she realized that she couldn't just stand there so she hesitantly took a step forward, and then another and then another; her footsteps getting more and more sure as she approached the boy with his small back towards her until her shoulders her held back and a smile was bright on her face and she halted just a bit short of him and she could see him tense a bit at noticing him. She wondered if he would allow her to share just what it was inside of him that made him burn so bright, for he was to bright for this dusty town, and then she opened her mouth and words poured out.

"Hey there! I'm Tifa!"