i decided to put my other story (Amor est Vitae Essentia) on hiatus for awhile until i finally get my interest to continue writing it back. sorry guys, but still, i thank you for your support!
now i have decided to try my writing skills at something completely different for me to see how it would turn out. and this is the result. i have never written anything as strange as this before, trust me. if you're wondering about the use of Chinese words/setting/and other stuff, it was because i was influenced by a Chinese drama i was watching the other day haha therefore the characters might be kind of OOC. ***oh, and i forgot to mention that this is an adaptation of the korean manhwa Bride of the Water God, forgive me i just decided to use ff characters as replacements and use some different names :)

so yeah, here it is. feedback would be nice, and it would make me very happy. so without further adieu, i would like to present: Final Fantasy Versus XIII: Bride of the Night God.
happy reading :)

Disclaimer: i own nothing.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII: Bride of the Night God
Chapter 1: Discarded Butterfly

Outside her window, cherry blossom petals had started floating down from the nearest cherry blossom tree. Strange, she mused as she leaned out the window. Today was not an ordinary day for her, because it was the day that she would be cast away by her family and her neighbors "for the sake of the village," they had told her. For her, it was like a death sentence. The happy atmosphere radiating from the outside world juxtaposed with how she felt today. Everything seemed to be against her on her wedding day.

The women of the village had prepared her for this day very well by doing her make-up, hair, and dressing her up in a rich oak white wedding dress draped with an elegantly embroidered hooded-cloak. Yes, today was her wedding day. But it would be no normal wedding for her. She would be wed the God of Night in his kingdom. In other words, she was going to be sacrificed to him for the sake of the village. She had heard stories about the Night God, ever since she was a child. Stella had always heard that was a monster, and now, she wondered if that was indeed true.

The village shaman died a week ago, and her last words to the villagers was for them to appease the Night God by sacrificing to him a beautiful bride, or else he will put a curse upon the village that will last for hundreds of years. At first, they did not seem to take to heart the words of the recently deceased shaman. But as the days went by, meteors kept falling on the village night after night. Because of that, farm lands have been affected deeply, and some people even died from the falling stars as well as live-stock. Being the cowards they were, the villagers acted hastily and chose the poor, but beautiful Stella to fulfill that role. In actuality, it was more like she was forcibly volunteered by her father to be the sacrifice so that he would get the money offered for the family of the bride. To put it simply, she was selfishly sold by her own father.

"Stella," a voice called her from the entrance of the room.

Turning around, Stella saw the women of the village all crowded around that single small door.

"It is time."

The villagers had arranged a small procession filled with the smell of sweet flowers and the images of joyous faces. As she was escorted down the road that led to the large lake, people gave their last words to her as their farewell. Some even said things under their breath in hopes that she would not hear them, but they were wrong.

"Thank-you for being the Bride of the Night God," some would say, grateful for her sacrifice.

"I am so glad she is not a daughter of mine," others would say, relieved.

"Someone needs to be sacrificed on our behalf," she heard.

"Please don't hate us. None of us wanted this to happen either…"

Their words meant nothing to her. It's all a lie, she thought. By then she was already sitting in a boat that the villagers had prepared for this day. Without any hesitation, they pushed the boat out into the lake and looked on with smiling faces as Stella began fading into the distance.

Minutes passed. Alone in the middle of the lake at last, Stella's thoughts drifted to her mother and little sister. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she wiped them away with her wrist. This could be the last time she would ever see them again, and she didn't even say a proper farewell to them since they were banned from seeing her.

An unusually strong gust of wind flew by past her and surged up a large tornado of water from the lake. Stella eyes widened with at the sight and noticed with terror that it was headed straight for her. Within moments, it submerged the entire small boat, taking Stella along with it. Soon, the cold waters had rendered her unconscious as she sank deeper and deeper into the lake.

Stella awoke to the sound of rushing waves and a cool breeze across her forehead. Getting up from the wet ground slowly, she noticed that her cloak had slipped from her shoulders and was nowhere to be seen. She was simply left in her wedding dress with absolutely no idea as to what was going on.

The first thing she saw was a large and old (but still intact) palace, just like the one the emperor of her country had. She gaped at the size of the building and its extravagance. It seemed to extend farther, from what her eyes could tell. There were large amounts of trees and exotic flowers, and she liked the fact that their natural beauty seemed to be in harmony with the palace. It was a beautiful place indeed, but…

"This…is the Night Kingdom?" she asked out loud to no one in particular. "Why is it not nighttime when it's called the Night Kingdom?"

Stella suddenly heard approaching footsteps coming towards her, and she turned to find a short old man standing a couple feet behind her dressed in elegant imperial robes.

"Welcome. My name is Jiao-Long," he said, his voice kind and gentle. "I am in charge of this palace. Please follow me and I will guide you to the Night God."

Her guide, Jiao-Long, escorted her into the palace and made her walk down at least three, long yet extravagant corridors until he finally told her to stop.

"Please wait right here," he instructed, and he quietly disappeared behind a corner.

Alone once more, Stella began to wonder if all this was real.

"…Am I still alive?" she asked herself quietly. "Or could it be…that I'm really dead…"

A series of thumping sounds caught her attention, and she turned her head to the direction where it originated. Her eyes fell upon a small boy, no older than the age of eight years old. He was dressed up in robes as well, but they seemed fancier than the ones of her guide. The boy had a striking shade of dark blue hair, and he picked up a small red ball from the ground. Noticing another person in the hall besides him, he simply stared at her with deep blue eyes.

A little boy? she thought. What's he doing here?

Stella approached him with a smile. "Hello little boy," she greeted. "Do you live here?"

The boy with the deep blue eyes said nothing in response. Before she knew it, he walked right past her with the red ball in his hands and he had completely ignored her.

"What a rude child," she muttered.

She was clearly irritated at his impoliteness and frowned at his actions, but soon brushed them off as she began walking down the corridor. Stella was lost in her own thoughts when she was suddenly brought back to reality realizing that she had gotten lost inside the palace.

"I should have just waited for Jiao-Long to come," she muttered, frowning to herself.

Suddenly, Stella saw movement coming from the beautiful garden on her right. Immediately, she hid herself behind the nearest circular pillar while holding a hand over her mouth. She slowly allowed herself to have a look from behind her hiding place and saw a man with short blonde hair and black and grey robes standing in the garden. He had his back turned to her so she could not see his face.

Stella's heart started pounding uncontrollably as the words of the villagers about the Night God circulated around in her mind in a maelstrom of chaos.

He is a monster!
I heard that he eats humans without a second thought…
How horrible! A very ugly and horrible monster indeed…

Could this man be the Night God? she thought to herself, biting her bottom lip nervously.

Turning around to take another look, Stella was surprised at what she saw this time. The sunlight seemed to illuminate the man as he turned around to view a bundle of beautiful white orchids. His face was kind, and she would even have to say quite handsome. His eyes were a lovely shade of grey, with a story hidden behind those orbs. His smile too, made her heart pause for a few beats in complete astonishment.

"Is everything alright?" Jiao-Long asked, startling her. He had appeared behind her from out of nowhere. "I have been searching for you."

Stella turned back to look for the mysterious man in the garden, but he was nowhere to be seen.

I didn't think that the Night God could be so beautiful, she thought.

"Come," the old man beckoned. "I will take you to the Night God."

Jiao-Long took her down another long corridor before stopping in front of a large and elegantly carved door. The door opened at his touch, and all the while, Stella's heart did not stop its rapid beating.

Immediately, her eyes fell upon the same man that she had seen in the garden minutes ago. He was leaned against a marble pillar with an open book in his hand. The man looked up with his grey eyes when the two visitors entered the room.

"Jiao-Long," the man said, acknowledging the old man.

"My dear, this is Commander Feng-Zhu," the old man said. "And this person…is the Night God, Caelum."

Jiao-Long extended his hand towards a silk blue curtain and slowly pulled it aside so that Stella would be able to see her husband. Her eyes widened as she saw that her husband was none other than the little boy with deep blue eyes that had ignored her not ten minutes ago. There was quite a large height difference between them, she noted as she tried to process what Jiao-Long had just said.

…You're kidding, was what Stella wanted to say. But she bit her tongue and began thinking of the positive things that came out of this. At least he wasn't a horrible monster like everyone else had thought.

It was later in the evening that Stella and Caelum finally had some peace and quiet. Stella was escorted to his room, which was one of the highest ones up in the palace. And from his room, the ground was a fair distance away. They sat together in his room to just simply let her have time to adjust to everything that had happened that day. She sat down on his bed and thought that it was rather comfortable. He on the other hand, didn't say anything as he sat on a chair opposite from her. The long silence between them was rather awkward, so she decided to start up a conversation.

"I'm surprised," she told him honestly. "I didn't think that the Night God would end up being you."

"…Thank-you," he replied nonchalantly. "And I'm shocked as well. I didn't think that my wife would be a woman filled with the grace of a man."

Was this kid trying to be funny? Stella was ticked off at his words and was inwardly fuming.

This little brat!

"…Don't you miss them at all?" he suddenly asked. "Your family…"

Stella had calmed herself down from his previous answer, and now, she wondered what had sparked this random question. "No," she replied. "I don't miss them."

The boy rolled his eyes and looked away. "Humans…I don't understand them at all. They—"

He was cut off by a soft sound coming from the bed. He turned to find Stella sleeping. Minutes passed as he simply looked upon her sleeping face. It had been a hard day for her no doubt.

Looking out the large open window, the dark sky had finally claimed over the light. He saw the bright moon shine in all its brilliance as the petals of flowers from a nearby tree floated down softly.

Then it was time.

On the table, the small fire on the candle had begun to flicker. On the nearby walls, a person walking by the room would have clearly been able to see the dark shadow of a small boy suddenly grow and grow until finally, the resulting image was the shadow of a grown young man. Standing up from his seat, he walked towards the bed in which Stella slept and watched her with the same deep blue eyes.

"Mom…" Stella whispered in her sleep.

He saw tears trail down from her closed eyes down her pale cheeks and sighed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he picked up a few strands of her long blonde hair and began gently playing with them between his fingers.

"You are a liar young lady…"

so in all honesty, how was it?