---Final Fantasy 13 and Versus---

Here's the next chapter in Star Crossed Lovers Thank you for everyone who reviewed and their names will be posted at the end of the chapter. THANK YOU SO MUCH MY 100th reviewer!! I can't thank everyone here, and the people who are at my forums right now. You guys are all the best keeping this author afloat! I shall give you a famous Latin Phrase:

Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur

Even a God finds it hard to love and be wise at the same time

He felt two pairs of eyes glare at him. Noctis was sent to a private room to be interrogated by Lightning and Snow. After the events of the Behemoth and the recent fight with Snow, the prince realised how tired he was. His head nodded back and forth, as if he was going to sleep right then and there.

Blue eyes dropped slowly and flickered open only to see Lightning in front of him, her arms crossed. Snow leaned against the only exit out of the room. He looked annoyed at the unresponsive man who sat in the metal chair without a fight.

Ignoring these eyes boaring though him, he leaned against his chair for comfort and closed his eyes. Snow muttered under his breath,"So we're just going to let Mr. Prince take a nap?" The woman shook her head, her eyes still on Noctis. The blond sighed, wary of waiting.

The door jerked open behind Snow, sending the surprised leader feeling the wall slam against his face. A woman appeared with shiny, black hair as she looked around the room. "Lightning? Where's Snow? We need him at the Base." Lightning pointed at the door and Lebreau glanced at it. She saw blond hair behind the door and quickly let go of the door handle.

Without the force of Lebreau's holding the door, Snow stumbled out looking dazed and confused. Lebreau smiled sheepishly as her leader glared at her. "Lebreau, you really need to work on your strength. Ouch." He said, rubbing his red forehead. She shrugged,"I do, but Marqui and Gadot are sissies. We need you at the Base. Someone needs to clean the backyard." She eyed Snow who grinned at his friend.

"Hey, that fight was to protect you guys. I was only doing my duty. What? I can't do that anymore? L-Lebreau! Hey!" The female rushed out of the room, stomping towards the Base with Snow following her with an exasperated heart.

The only ones in the room were Lightning and Noctis. There was an awkward silence between them. None knowing what to say to the other. Then....

Noctis opened one eye and looked up from his 'sleep'. Lightning took notice of this and coolly looked at the Prince. "You're awake? Took you long enough." Dark hair still messy as ever, Noctis sat up and crossed his arms. He looked at his interrogator with red eyes. She suddenly felt the aura emitting from him. It was inhuman.

Noctis smirked at her and asked in a nonchalant voice,"Where is it?" The solider tensed, this wasn't the Prince she knew from the Castle. This was someone else. As if Gravity turned against her, she felt the full force of his blunt power against her body. Her eyes widened in shock as Noctis stood up, his arms at his sides, walking towards Lightning slowly.

Lightning began to lose her breath,'What the hell is happening to me? Who the hell is he?!' Her body couldn't take it anymore. Her knees crashed onto the ground, her hands were forced against the floor, failing to pick her body up. His power was too strong for her. Lightning cursed under her breath.

Above her, Noctis still smirked. His eyes glowing dark red at the sight of his enemy at her knees. That's the way it should be. Enemies at his knees, begging for mercy. Before he killed them. Lightning lifted up her head, a mere inch from the floor. A pained look hid behind her face, her eyes.

'Damn him. Damn him to hell! T-this bastard should die. Dammit!' Anger bubbled inside her, eager to be released. The woman couldn't do anything. Nothing at all. Looking almost helplessly at the man in front of her. Noctis reached down, grabbing her collar. Lightning gritted her teeth, damn was he strong. Feeling herself being lifted, the gravity pushed against her body like someone going under a huge waterfall with a thousand gallons of water cascading all over her body.

The tightness around her neck became more painful as he lifted her even higher. Her arms became like noodles at her sides, unable to be used. Surprisingly, she couldn't move: not her hands,not her arms, not her legs, and her whole body was in pain.

Lightning was beginning to lose breath, Noctis smiled,"Are you going to tell me where the Crystal is, or am I going to force it out of you?" His voice was cold and harsh. It wasn't the bored, emotionless tone she was use to. She gasped, he tightened his hand around her neck with his other hand, letting go of the collar. A wave of blackness entered her mind.

"Bull--Shit." She managed to say, despite her lack of air in her lungs. Noctis stopped smiling and put on a blank face. "Alright, then." Noctis said simply. He pushed her forward, slamming her against the wall. Lightning, against her will, gasped in pain. Her eyes watered from the bright light, a single bulb that hung from the ceiling.

'Is this how it's going to end? Me, being choked to death from Mr. Narcoleptic?' The thought was swirling inside her mind, making her even more dizzy and nauseous. Pain in her neck, back, and gasping for air took over. The blackness erupted in her eyes and for a split moment she thought that his hair was black. It couldn't have changed.

Then the pain stopped. Lightning fell to the floor, and felt a sharp pain on her side. Coughing, gasping for fresh air, she immediately put her hand over her neck. Blinking away the tears that formed from the light, or the pain, she looked at her attacker.

Noctis looked normal. He blinked at the wall, as if he didn't know why he stood up and was now seeing the white wall for the first time. His hair turned back to its normal color and his eyes weren't blood red anymore, it was dark blue. He looked at the ground and found Lightning glaring at him with a killer intent. Her hand was still on her neck, while the other was holding her injured side.

Surprised, he offered her his hand, but she kicked his stomach instead. Noctis stood his ground, gritting his teeth at the power of her kick. "What the hell was that for?!" He exclaimed, and then got into a coughing fit. Lightning got up from the ground, she staggered a bit before regaining her balance. She rubbed her neck gingerly and lifted her hand from her side.

It was bleeding. Light blue eyes glared at dark blue with rage,"You bastard. You filthy son-of-a-bitch. I knew you couldn't be trusted! I knew it! I should send you back where you came from. Hell!" Noctis's coughing subsided and he looked at her incredulous. "What? What the hell did I do?"

Lightning looked at Noctis with mad eyes and scoffed with anger. "What did you do?! What did you do? I'll tell you what you did, Mr. Noctis. You--." Her tirade was cut short, the door slammed open to reveal Snow, lazily coming in. He opened one eye and complained "God, Lebreau's a slave--." Then he processed the picture in front of him:

Lightning at the wall, holding her neck and a bleeding side and the Prisoner looking at her with pained eyes. Snow noctied a dagger in his hand. In one stride he rushed to Lightning and quickly inspected her injuries,"What the hell happened in here, Lightning? Damn, it's deep. There, careful, careful...." He tried helping Lightning by taking one of her arms and slinging it over his shoulder, but she pushed him away.

"He's what happened, Snow." She said acidly. Still clutching her side, she hobbled towards the exit. She stopped short. "Snow." Snow stopped glaring at Noctis and gave Lightning his full attention. "Send Noctis down to the cells. Make sure they guard his cell well. Got it?" Snow nodded and stepped toward the Prince.

Noctis was in a strange supor, trying to think about what happened. He felt the dagger in his hand, wet with Lightning's blood. He heard Lightning's and Snow's voices, but they were all lost in his thoughts. The scene of Lightning leaving didn't cross his mind, and Snow advancing towards him really didn't give him much of an impact.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain behind his neck. He looked behind him and saw the blond man frowning. "Night, night Prince." Snow said mockingly. Blinking, Noctis thought,'Night, night. What--.' Blackness invaded his mind and took over. Noctis felt his eyes close and the dagger out of his hands.

The floor didn't hurt him at all, but Snow binding his arms behind his back did. Noctis faintly felt the magic in the binds. 'So, they're using Magic to bind me?' Noctis felt the corners of his mouth twitch. 'Fine, so be it.' That was the last thought before he blacked out.

After Snow was done binding his arms, he looked at the prisoner and wondered how did Lightning got stabbed by him. It wasn't like Lightning not fighting back. If a Prisoner threw the first punch, she would give it back to him ten-fold. Sometimes he would come in and see massive dents on the table, walls, and floors.

She wasn't the kind of person to get stabbed and bruised while the Prisoner came out practically Scot-free. No, something happened in here and he wanted to know why and how. Snow looked at the Prince one final time before calling the guards.

Rage filled up inside his body, just seeing the man made him want to kill him over and over again. He stabbed Lightning. His friend and 2nd in command! He reached out a shaky hand to the dark, blue hair and stopped. 'No, I can't. Not yet. This bastard will pay one way or another.' he thought grimly.

"If you hurt Lightning one more time, I won't hesitate to kill you, Noctis." He said coldly, hiding his inner rage towards the unconscious Noctis. And with that, he stepped out and called the guards.

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The Crystal glowed a gentle glow. It felt its guardians here and was overjoyed with happiness. It was finally going free.

Swirls of words came bursting out inside the Crystal.

Noctis. Friends. Help. Danger....Pulse. Cocoon. Tenebreau......Stella Nox.....Fleuret. Goddess Etro. fal'Cie.....help them. Lightning. I'cie. Danger. D--.

Then the words stopped. They floated inside the Crystal until they disappeared one by one. Against the wet, corroded wall, a man in a grand suit smiled.

"So, you have spoken." He said in a crisp voice, it lacked emotion underneath the surface. He chuckled and got up from his chair, walking towards the Crystal. He put his hands behind his back as he inspected it with a smile. It was strong, the power ebbing from it felt wonderful. Being in front of this Crystal made him want to lose control.

"You just wait for them, then. I do hope you chose the right people for this." His cool voice carried through out the cold, dark cave that was the Headquarters. The Crystal glowed bright. It knew it chose well. It didn't want a human to mock its choice. A crack formed under the man's feet.

He smiled. "All right. I won't question them. I do hope you are going to keep His Majesty safe, I assume?" The Crystal was done shining. At the base, it showed a short film-like image of the prince in his cell still unconscious. Then it changed to a woman with strawberry hair getting wrapped in bandages in a infirmary. Beside her, a pig-tailed young girl and a man with an Afro looked at the woman with immense worry. The door behind them burst open and a man with blond hair rushed forward to the woman and began asking the woman many questions.

In reply, the woman said comforting words to her group, but that didn't stop the man with blond hair from hugging her. The woman's light blue eyes widened at the sudden contact while in the background, the two friends smiled and one of them, the young woman, giggled and shouted out some words.

Then the two broke apart, the man blushed while the woman looked away, hiding her embarrassment. Then the image faded.

The man in the suit sighed deeply."I can tell you chose wisely." he said, trying to hide the sarcasm from his voice. From behind the Crystal, a child came out. The young girl wore a frown.

"Yes, it did. Don't question the Crystal's judgement, Nero. Better yet, keep things that are unsightly to yourself." She snapped. The man frowned, he was being pestered by a child. He held his cool and smiled carefully and nodded to her. "Yes, I'm sorry Madame. I'll keep these things to myself from now on." he said, with every ounce of politeness he could muster from his mouth.

The child ignored him and stared at the Crystal in front of her. Her blue eyes looked at it with eyes that saw things from a child's point of view. "Do you think that the Guardians will survive? Like last time?" she asked. The man held back a remark.

"Wonders do happen, Madame." Nero said carefully, pausing for effect and then added,"His majesty is strong. The woman, I hear, is very strong also. She's an I'cie." The girl's mouth formed a smiled,"No way! Really? Then she has to survive! I wanna meet her!" The man sighed mentally.

The girl has such a short attention span. He thanked Her Lady for not teaching Noctis until he was 13 years. The girl turned around and a small smile cressed her lips. "You know what they say Nero: Friends make the journey more satisfying." He nodded and excused himself. The young girl nodded and waved him away.

When the Crystal and the girl was out of sight, Nero turned his lips into a cold frown. 'Young girls make the journey more irritating as you pass by. Haven't you heard of that, Madame?' He heard the young girl giggle at the Crystal as she said,"What? Really? No! Haha!" Nero pursed his lips," My Lady, you will soon regret talking back to me. Even if you're one of them."

Behind him, the girl smiled as she saw images in the Crystal: a black car appearing into the wilderness and out came three men: a blond man with a shot-gun, a man with glasses, and a man with a scar on his face. They looked at each other in confusion and began calling out into the wilderness.

Hearing no reply, they closed the car doors and walked into the forest. The girl smiled,"I hope they are prepared for what's going to happen next." With her hands cheerfully behind her back, the girl sat down on the ground and watched the show.

Since there were so many reviews, I'm just going to name the reviewers. I'm sorry if you thought I was going to reply to your review. I will reply to them by Mail and for the Non-authors, I will answer your questions if you have any, alright?

Reviewers: Uchiha Ena, Sakura-angel113, dustymoon, Sunflower Weilder, Whitecloud, KisaraCrystal, Dawn Fire Angel, Qwerty 91, Priscy-Lockheart, Narutofan1091, Eletric Kitty, Lemonizer, Greek Girl, Anon, Strifegirl27, Randomguy, newbie, and Zenbon Sakura. Thank you Randomguy for being my 100th reviewer! I still can't believe I have over 100 reviews! It's amazing! I love you all!

Warning: The man in the suit is NOT an OC, he's in the latest Versus trailer: the man at the head of the table. Yep, added him for the first time in my life. His name is Nero, meaning black or dark-haired. The young girl is an OC. Check out my Profile for more info on her. The Crystals play a huge roll in these later chapters and the effects on the People of Versus and 13 make it all the more real.I make the Crystals have more of a role in this story. It's good to probe for the mysterious legends of the Crystals, fal'Cie, and I'Cie.

Review freely if you want, fellow fanfics and readers! I hope to hear from you!

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Your amazed and astounded author,

~Yuki~