Title: Waiting
Pairing: Stella/Noctis small hints of Shotgun Guy/Nameless OC
Rating: T at the most considering the references to war.
Warnings/Spoilers: AU
Author Note: My first fic. I'm not entirely sure if I got their characters right well to be more in particular Stella, but this an AU fic. There are a few World War II terms like "Victory Gardens" but then again this piece was kind of inspired by World War II. A few places were inspired by towns from Final Fantasy IX. This piece did inspire another war-time AU fic but that would most likely be a friendship fic between Noctis and Shotgun guy with hints of Stella/Noctis
and Shotgun and OC. I don't believe in crossovers, and Stella is the only confirm female. I also decided to use "Livejournal formant" name, pairing, rating ect. because it seems to be easiest to use.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy Versus XIII

She has always known that Noctis would some day leave and join the army.

Their country was at war after all and she knows it was pointless to protests. All of the men who are of age must join the ranks of the army and leave to go to some country on the other side of the ocean. To a country called Midgian or something along those lines.

Instead she had decided to say goodbye to him at the train station pressing a quick kiss to his lips before watching him head off the war. Knowing quite well that this might be the last time that she sees him.

She has seen many families receive news of a love one that had died in battle, is missing or was injured during the war. Not necessary news a person wants to hear especially if it was someone they love deeply.

Perhaps that is her greatest fear to receive news that her boyfriend is dead.

Days pass by and she tries to avoid any news about the war. Sure she helps out the war in any possible way she can like helping her mother with a victory garden.

She knows several people who has victory gardens in their yards in hopes that the food mostly vegetables would somehow help their soldiers in Midgian.

She tries to do other stuff that will somehow help the soldiers. She even decided to go to Nursing school even though a part of her knows that the war might be over when her schooling is complete but it was still something.

She knows part of her reason for doing this is because she hopes she can somehow help him and other soldiers.

Yet she always avoids getting the mail or answering the door in fear that she might receive bad news about Noctis.

Her mother seems to understand but occasionally calls her down from her room if she does receive a letter from him which is honestly a rare occurrence, and she usually keeps the letters he does write her in a box in her room all of them stack up and held together by a white hair ribbon.

She was twenty when the war finally ended.

Both sides losing heavily, but she knows that she was fortunate to never see the war come to her hometown and really the only Tenebrean territory that receive damage to it was in a town called Dali. A town near the coast and was bomb from fighter planes. Tenebrae had enter the war a week later joining the side of the allies which pretty much consisted of a country called Alexanderia, and another country called Limbulium.

Noctis had continue to write her letters each of them heartbreaking in their own sense. Sometimes he would write about the battles themselves, other times he would tell her a friend who had died during the battle or after it because of infection or disease, but the last letter she received was from one of his friends who went to war with him.

A cheerful blond a bit of a playboy always flirting with the girls during high school, but she isn't entirely sure if he is the same way now.

She knows that war changes people, and his letter to her only reek of sadness and it truthfully only explain why Noctis couldn't write her the letter himself. He had been blinded in the battle at Satainia or to be more in particular it was his left eye he couldn't see out of.

It had been a bomb or something like that, or maybe it had been a shard of glass, a part of her doesn't want to know the details in full.

Hearing him hurt was enough for her to collapse to the floor broken sobs escaping her as she gently clutches the letter in her hands. She isn't entirely sure if it had been out of relief that he is still alive or out of despair of the permanent injury he got during batte, but when she manage to pull herself together she finish the letter.
Noting the PS line "I'll make sure your fiance returns back to you safely," that instantly causes her to chuckle softly it's so typical of him to make a comment like that even though he knows quite well that they weren't engaged.

Sure on occasion she would imagine what it would be like to be married to Noctis Caelum, but they have never really talked about it and his letters never really hinted that he wanted to get married to her.

He would write how much he miss her ends his letter with "I love you" but that is probably normal for any couple separated by war. She isn't entirely sure if he was giving her a hint that Noctis wants to get married to her when he eventually returns home or if the cheerful blond was just kidding around.

She can hear the familiar whistle from the train as it finally stops at the station. She has a pretty good feeling that many of the soldiers who were sent of to war will be on this train, the war has been over for about a month now.

Her violet eyes widen a bit noticing a dark haired male dress in the standard uniform. Noticing one of his eyes has a bandage across it, but despite the two years they have been separated she still recognize him.

She did notice his lips quirk into a soft smile when his eyes met hers. She honestly has to control herself to prevent herself from jumping into his arms, but he had no problem of lifting her up in his arms in a warm embrace.

She knows that several couples were either embracing or kissing. Not that she can necessary blame them. It was the first thing that cross her mind when she saw him getting off the train.

"I miss you," he says sincerely into her ear. She can hear the longing in his voice, she nods as she buries her face into his coat, and she can feel the moisture rise to her eyes, a part of her wonders if she would end up crying.

"Are you crying," Noctis utters warmly into her ear. It was until she looks up at him, she feels the tears rolling down her face. She instantly moves to wipe them with the sleeve of her dark jacket

"I'm just happy that you're home," she remarks truthfully smiling brightly despite the tears stains present on her cheeks. "I was worried about you."

"I know and I'm sorry for making you worry," he says moving to cup her face in his hands and wipe any remaining tears from her cheeks. A vague part of her wonders if other females were crying as well either from tears of happiness, grief, or a bit of both.

She did notice a few soldiers were injured and some of them were even missing a few body parts like a leg or an arm. She knows that a lot of soldiers weren't able to make it back home either most of them probably died on the battlefield. Some of them might be missing in action, but at present moment she prefers not to think of such things. Sure she feels a great amount of sadness for the families who lost a love one, but at the moment she is happy.

Noctis is home, and despite the hardships the future may bring.

Her waiting is over.

-the End