A/N: This little oneshot came to me after multiple viewings of all the trailers, most especially the DKS3713 trailer. Is AU and takes into consideration that Nomura mentioned Versus would not have romance. That could have changed since 2006 (when he said it) as seen in the trailers. Noctis is said to be a tragic hero but there is hope too. I took that idea and my imagination went with theories. It is, as you will read.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Purely for entertainment purposes only.

Star Crossed

There was the rush of rapid footsteps approaching. As if the sound were necessary, at all. She had already felt his presence long before she could hear the sounds. That's how it had been from the very beginning. Since that night they had first met under the vast array of stars. She had known he would come to her then, just as she knew he was coming to her now.

She can remember what she was wearing that night. It was a shimmering white. A complete contrast to his ever present black. Childishly she had wished to be that star. The bright one that would bring him to the light at last. It had seemed fitting. It was then that she had felt like she could have been the one for him. Now, she felt torn between the blackness that seemed to follow him and her own inner brightness.

A bitter smile crosses her lips as she distinctly remembers the sound of his shoes as he climbed the stairs that night. She can still feel the weight of his stare as she gazed upon the portrait of the goddess. She had turned to him. There was always so much behind those intelligent eyes of his. His aloof manner may have been enough to dissuade someone less observant but she had seen beneath it. She had unnerved him with her presence and her smile and the illumination of her being. He was compelled, even as he felt the need repel. She understands at last, the feeling that she had sensed from him that night. He had withdrawn with as much feeling as he had wanted to come closer.

Then you will have nightmares.

Yes, he had been right. She did have nightmares. Living nightmares that she did not even need sleep to see. There was blood, everywhere and the broken body of her father amongst it. His white robes torn and his body mangled with the essence of crystal to show who had been responsible. There were cuts that could only have been caused by his sword. She had seen it. The scene had played out before her eyes as if she had really been there. Powers drawn. Words exchanged. A battle 'til one was dead. She saw it all. She could still see it now… and the blackness seeped in deeper.

There was no rationale in the face of revenge. There is only the anger and hate. The hate is so bitter it is an actual taste in your mouth. The taste. The lust for revenge that does not sleep until it is satisfied. It outweighed the love. Maybe not really love, but the sense of love. The love foreseen that had driven her that night under the stars. The stars were as they were. Hers had been bright and his looked dying in the darkness of his vanishing legacy. For he was the last… and they had collided then. They will collide now.

His steps are getting closer. He'll be upon her soon. She turns her body in the direction he'll be coming but faces away from it. It's a moment. It's a moment she needs to focus. Then, he is there. He is there and she must finally face him.

Seeing that face, seeing his face is almost enough to make her forget. She sees his uncertainty and his apprehension, more unsure than that first night. Her heart leaps at the sight and her feet are already trying to run to him. Then she sees it. The crystals are at work around him and she remembers her revenge. She remembers the hate and her own powers form. Her sword materializes in her hand and she sees his appear with a quick flourish of his arms.

They face off.

"I don't want to do this, Stella," he says but his face has lost its uncertainty. It's been replaced with a cold determination. There is more there but that is what she focuses on. That is what she needs to see.

"It's not about what you want," she replies. Her face is as stony and determined as his. "It's about what must be."

He doesn't answer. She does not give him much chance to. There is a flash of gold and the battle has begun. Things become blue and things become gold but they do not combine. It is either one or the other. She attacks and he deflects and she grows more angry.

"Did you hesitate with my father?" she asks as their swords clash viciously and their faces are close together.

"No," he says and he's so close that his nose almost touches her and she doesn't want to see what she sees reflected in his eyes.

"Then don't hesitate with me!" she cries as she pushes him back roughly before thrusting the tip of her sword towards his forehead. He swipes it away with an upward motion and she uses the momentum to flip over his head.

It continues... and he's obliged her. He slashes her arm and she nicks the right side of his chin.

"I don't want to kill you," he growls during the next pause.

Deep down she knows. She doesn't want to kill him either. He is the better fighter but he has held back for her. Its an advantage she knows she will not use against him either. But, one of them had to die. Two stars never survived an encounter.

So she does what she knows she must. It is the only way. She tricks him. She knows enough about how he fights to know where he'll position his sword at just the right angle and that is what she takes advantage of.

The sound of pierced flesh is sickening. It doesn't matter if you have heard it a thousand times before or even if it isn't your own pain. Your mind creates a phantom pain of imagined agony. She's always hated the sound, but this time... this time it feels right. The sound has released the anger and it has dulled the lust for revenge. What is left is peace. It's a lifted weight upon heavy shoulders and she thinks her mind has never been so clear.

"Stella," he says weakly. She can hear the strain in his voice and she turns her eyes to his. They sparkle and she smiles that same beaming smile she had given him under the stars and makes his heart beat again, even as the pain solidifies.

There are tears in her eyes as a gentle laugh escapes her lips. It's not mocking. It's a sense of relief.

"We are not good and we are not bad. This is not wrong and it is not right. But it is what it was meant to be."

"Not meant to be yet meant to fulfill our destiny," he agrees.

"Mmmph," she confirms with a slight nod of her head.

"No more nightmares now," he says.

She laughs a little stronger and the tears flow down the sides of her face. "Mean to the end," she jokes but stops short when she sees the hurt in his eyes at her words. "You are not all dark now. I have taken some and given you my light."

"I was not meant for the light."

"Don't make this end in tragedy. There must always be hope."

"For me?"

"In you," she presses.

He shakes his head weakly. He doesn't believe that yet, but he will. He must.

"You must find it at the end. There will always be an end to the night."

"Not when you have faded," he says with regret.

It reminds her. Underneath all this weightlessness is pain and she remembers.

"We are two stars that have collided," she struggles. The shock has faded a bit and her hands clench with realized pain. Its gotten harder to breathe and she finally moves her eyes away from his to acknowledge his sword buried within her. "We were not meant to survive such a union," her eyes grow fierce. "But you will go on. Stake your claim forever upon what is yours."

"I will," he vows and she knows he means it. She nods with a smile.

"My dark and tragic prince…" she says, finally able to closer her eyes in forever peaceful slumber. "Noct."

He leans forward so that his forehead touches hers and breathes in her last breathe. "My bright star, Stella."

He kisses her forehead tenderly as he pulls away to look at her clearly. He feels a certain sense of envy at her peace. Its also a large sense of loss. Of the things not said and the things not fully explored. He feels his heart begin to clench and the overwhelming sense of grief at her passing.

Not now! he hears whispered.

No, not now. There will be a time to grieve and fully feel this pain. But now, now there is a mission. The quest to find hope. So he carefully lifts her in his arms and takes her away. The soft swishing noise of his teleportation, the pool of her blood and the essence of crystals are what he leaves behind him.