This one takes place after Heroes and Villains.
Heart of life
Happiness is a funny thing. It is as strong and enduring as that oak tree you see every day in the park when you're coming back home, but it is also fragile and vulnerable and it always chooses the worst moments to leave us. And that is how it happened.
It happened early in the morning. Her eyes were tired of crying, her heart was aching for some sort of peace, even if it was fake. But she knew that lies don't stand tall, for they get built upon a foundation made of sand and emptiness before eventually becoming a pile of rubble, just like her hope right now.
It happened too soon. She could barely absorb the crushing reality until the night fell upon her, painting her sorrows on a black canvas dusted with twinkling stars that whispered words of loneliness and despair. It made her grieve, and she knows how it is to grieve the loss of love. But this time she's not alone, she won't fall from grace. She can't, not again. Still she can't help but cry sometimes, the tears that mess up her impeccable make up have the strangest power to wipe away the intensity of the pain she feels, but they never soothe it completely.
It made her understand. A few months ago she would have laughed if someone were to tell her she would be in her living room past midnight with her phone buzzing after getting a reply to a text she sent a minute ago. This is one of those nights when she can't shake the nightmares of punishment and abandonment away. Snow is at her door 10 minutes later.
It made her feel. Maybe now she understands what Snow meant when she said she feels things deeply. And it's funny, the weird type of funny, that she hears the little cracks of her resolve when she looks at her reflection in the mirror, trying to convince herself that this time she won't care enough to hope again. But small as it is, hope is still there, feeding her, eager to believe that maybe one day she will find her place in this world again.