Author's Note: This chapter was probably the hardest for me to write, but what is going to happen will change everything.
Thanks for the reviews from Dawn, Sunflower Weilder, gagboy, .f.R.1.3.D.a, and sillyscenegurly.
Eight hours later, Lorelei, Cid, and Issaru reached a secret base twenty miles outside of the target city. Waiting for them was about one-thousand heavily armed men. All of them wore glistening black body armor, with neon yellow markings on the shoulders, elbows, and thighs. They all wore black helmets adorned with glowing yellow eye holes, which stood out among the red and orange evening sky.
"The PSCICOM look wonderful Cid," Lorelei commented as she observed the group saluting her as she stepped out of the helicopter. Issaru had never seen the group before and was silently watching the men.
"Suits enhanced with the power of the crystal. Magnificent isn't it." A twisted smile formed on his worn face. "Faster speed, inhuman strength, and this is only with the watered down crystal powers."
"Cid," the general barked at the scientist, "would you just do what you came here to do and shut up."
The scientist stopped talking and opened the suitcase he was carrying. In it was a long barreled machine gun, which he handed to Lorelei, and a mustard yellow gem that was shaped like a dragon claw nail.
"Use this carefully," Cid told Lorelei. "If you over use it, the little friend in there will be useless."
"So what exactly are in these balls?" Issaru asked.
"They hold the purest essence and power of the crystal: the summoning power," Cid explained, passing the young man a look of annoyance.
Lorelei smirked, and turned to the group of soldiers. Her long blond hair followed her as she prepared to command the most important operation of her life.
"Tonight," she yelled at them, "Tenebrae shall fall to it knees!"
Lightning decided, after Noctis left, to continue reading the book about the crystals. She was making very little progress though, as most of the book was simple fairytales about princes and princess. What bothered her though is that not one of the dozens of kingdoms that had the crystal really gotten rid of the crystal. Every kingdom had simply passed it along to the next powerful empire.
A soft knock on the door interrupted her reading.
"Come in," she said.
The door opened to reveal Quinn.
"Hello Lightning," he spoke as he entered the room and closed the door. "I have seen you a few times previously, but I believe we have never had the pleasure of a proper introduction." He then extended his right hand and grasped Lightning's, "Quinn."
"It's a pleasure to meet you finally," Lightning replied.
"I just want to talk with you about what happened to you during the past two years to see what intelligence we can gather. Um, shall we begin?"
"Alright," Lightning spoke, as Quinn took a seat opposite her.
That evening, Stella received the order for the document she requested and wrote a note for her family. She had no idea why she was doing this, but she had a feeling that there would not be another chance for her to do this. She then dressed into a black skirt and top, with a white over-shirt and black boots. As the princess adjusted her hair, she noticed that her violet eyes were now almost entirely orange. She lamented at the fact that the crystal's power had almost overtaken her.
She then went to the Crystal Shrine to see Noctis.
Around eleven at night, Noctis had nearly fallen asleep guarding the crystal. The past few nights had been relatively quiet. This was either a blessing, or the calm before the storm. Silently, he wished that this silence was a sign that Algentia had given up.
His pondering was interrupted by the familiar sound of crackling glass.
"Stella?" he asked into the empty room.
"Noctis?" came a reply.
"Stella…is that you?"
"Yeah." She walked forward, so Noctis would not have to get up from the throne. As she approached the throne, Noctis noticed that she was fiddling with her diamond ring.
"What's wrong?" the prince asked. He sensed something was not right.
"Noctis, do you love me?"
The prince sighed. "Of course I do."
"Then what about Lightning?" she quickly replied.
"I…I don't know."
Stella looked down. "Look, if you like Lightning and are happier with her, I understand. Just tell me that you want to spend the rest of your life with her, and I will ask Giovanni to end the engagement."
"No," Noctis quickly replied.
"Why not?!"
"I couldn't do that to you."
"Noctis, I'm giving you a chance to leave me. I won't be mad at you. I just want you to be happy for the remainder of your life."
Noctis wanted to reply, but his ears picked up the faintest beeping sound.
"Noctis?" Stella said.
The prince then realized what the beeping was.
"GET DOWN!" he yelled. The prince then wrapped his arms around Stella and threw her to the ground, with her bellow him. As they landed, Stella screamed as the sound of breaking concrete and shards of glass flew around the room.
When Noctis sensed that that the explosion was done, he released the princess from his grip. The two coughed as the room filled with dust from the explosion. "Are you alright Stella?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied as the prince stood up and then helped her up. He then held her in a hug, his heart still racing from shock of the explosion.
Stella's gaze then turned toward the massive hole that appeared in the wall. Out of the dust came a series of yellow eyes led by a single figure with a long coat and a glowing mustard colored gem.
"Who are you?" Stella asked. The prince turned his face around to see what Stella was commenting on.
"Now now princess, is that how you greet all of your guests?" the figure replied, as she stepped into the room.
"Lorelei," muttered Noctis. He was now fully facing the intruder. He stood protectively in front of Stella, who looked like she was ready to pounce on the general.
"Oh I think you know what I want, your highnesses," Lorelei spoke. "I want the crystal."
"Over my dead body!" grunted Noctis. His eyes had changed color to a scarlet red.
"Oh, I can arrange that," the general replied. She then held the yellow claw crystal in her hand threw it to the ground. The claw shattered into a million fragments and a plume of smoke. Out of the cloud came a black beast. It looked like a great dragoon, with streaks of yellow scales, gold claws and chains dandling off the monster's ears and wings.
Noctis and Stella gasped at the beast.
"May I introduce your highnesses to Bahamut, a little present from your friend Lightning." Lorelei smiled for a moment. "Kill them," she ordered the beast.
"Noctis," Stella yelled, "go protect the crystal!" She then raised her right hand and summoned her rapier. "I'll deal with Lorelei."
"What about you?" Noctis yelled.
"You take care of the army!"
Lighting had now spent two hours with Quinn. The assistant had taken thorough notes the entire time. A few minutes earlier, he had handed Lightning the blue heart shaped crystal.
"Any idea what it is?" Quinn asked.
"No," Lightning replied. "All I know is that there are a few more of these things and that they came from me."
"What did the other's look like?"
Lightning was going to answer the question when she felt a powerful surge of energy.
"Noctis and Stella…" she spoke, her eyes wide.
"What?" Quinn asked in confusion.
"Something's not right..."
"They're fine," Quinn interrupted Lightning as he tried to calm her down. "There is absolutely nothing wrong. I am sure the two are just fine."
Just then a bright light filled the skyline followed by a roaring explosion.
Quinn was distracted and Lightning saw her opportunity to escape. She escaped Quinn's grasp and then ran to the story high window on the other side of the room, placing the gem inside one of her dress pockets.
"Time to jump" she whispered.
"HEY, HEY HEY!" Quinn screamed.
Lightning then shifted all of her weight against the glass. It shattered into bits of pieces. She then began to fall to the ground.
"LIGHTNING! WHAT THE HECK!" Quinn yelled as he stared dumbly at the broken pane of glass.
Adrian then walked into the guest room, and gabbed at the hole. "She jumped, didn't she?" Quinn's jaw hung on the floor as Adrian continued to talk. "I tell you what, she's one crazy b…"
"WE GOT TROUBLE GUYS!" Rex screamed. He had just gotten an SOS text from Stella. "Lorelei's here!"
The three then ran out of the building to aid Noctis and Stella.
Lightning slammed through the glass pane and began to fall to the ground. She narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers. The blue gravity pulse encased her as she fell. As she neared the ground she righted her body and landed feet first.
She then looked around the area and saw a mob of civilians screaming and running away from the direction of the shrine. Feeling the adrenaline flowing through her, Lightning ran towards the shrine.
The sound of bullets firing caught her attention. A few blocks later, she saw two soldiers running down a street, punching a teenage boy. Since she didn't have a weapon, she decided to improvise and intervene.
"Hey you!" she screamed to the guards as she ran over to them.
That caught their attention.
She then kneed the nearest guard and then landed a well placed kick on the other's neck. They both fell to the ground, moaning in pain.
"Are you alright?" she then asked the boy, who simply nodded his head in fear. "Get going."
The boy immediately stood up and ran away.
"Thank you!" he yelled back at Lightning as he ran off into the night.
Lightning picked up one of the dropped guns on the ground. It was a new model she had never seen, but she would make do with it.
Another set of explosions echoed in the night, along with the inevitable screams and shouts. Lightning sighed and ran towards the ball of smoke that had erupted.
Noctis heard another blast go off inside the shrine and ran towards the sound. A dozen soldiers followed after him, but were thrown back by a crystal shield he formed around him. Yet as soon as he pushed back on one surge, another surge of troops came against him.
I can't keep this up, Noctis thought to himself.
Seeing no other options, he summoned the crystal weapons and began using them against the soldiers. Three remained around the prince, shielding him against the hail of bullets that here fired at him. The other swords flew around the room and attacked the soldiers. The sounds of broken bones and severed limbs filled the air.
But Noctis was noticing that though the first few soldiers were easily taken care of. Yet the next row seemed to easily dodge the attacks. Just then, one of the soldiers ran behind Noctis and hit the prince in the spine. His red eyes widened as he felt the power of the crystal vanish.
Instantly all of the crystal swords disappeared. Noctis fell to the ground.
Breathing heavily he looked up to see another hundred soldiers. This needed to end now.
Clenching his fists, his eyes began to glow a fiery red. Around him a million pieces of sharp crystals formed and began to spin around him. The shards spun faster and faster until Noctis appeared to be standing in the center of a tornado. The PSICOM solders fired at the maelstrom, but made no dent in the vortex.
Noctis then screamed and the shards spun out across the room, shattering the armor, causing blood to flow, bodies to fall, break bones, and silence the firing bullets. It was over in ten seconds.
And for four seconds after that, there was nothing but silence. It was broken by a piercing scream.
"Care to dance, princess?" Lorelei said as she mocked Stella.
"Please," the princess replied.
Before Lorelei could react, a sliver of purple mist spun around Stella and then flew across the room at the general. The light hit her like a stone wall and threw her outside the shrine. Her limp body rolled down the flight of outdoor steps. Stella then ran out of the room, jumping over a few bodies that were sprawled on the floor.
Lorelei picked her self up, feeling a bit of blood trickle down her nose. She grunted seeing the princess run down the steps at her. Thinking fast, she pulled out a broadsword she had kept on her belt. Jumping up, she threw a slash at the princess. Stella saw the sword and blocked the blow with her rapier.
The two then began to struggle, sword locked against sword.
"Don't play games with me," Lorelei grunted, her eyes wide with pleasure. "You're just a stupid little princess. How much do you really know?"
Stella only pushed her sword harder. "I know that you will loose."
The princess then released the pressure on her rapier, thinking she could cause Lorelei to fall. But the general was too experienced, and simply released her sword to the ground and landed an uppercut on the princess. Stella's jaw slammed into her skull, making a crack sound from the impact and she collapsed. Yet as she fell, another series of purple lights appeared in the form of ribbons and wrapped themselves round Lorelei's arms.
The general struggled against the pull of the strings, as Stella tried to readjust herself. As she stood up, the ribbons disappeared and a series of burning fire orbs appeared around her. The princess then pushed her hands forward and the orbs flew at Lorelei. The general swiftly dodged each ball, but the final one hit her in the chest which flung her further down the stairs.
Stella ran after the falling Lorelei, hoping to land a final blow on Lorelei. Out of nowhere, Bahamut landed behind the princess and swung a powerful swipe at her. Stella, screaming the whole time, was thrown to the side, away from Lorelei and the dragon.
The beast roared one more, before disappearing to a cloud of yellow mist.
She then walked over to Stella, who was struggling to get up. Scrapes covered her body and her rapier was a good thirty feet away from her.
When Lorelei reached the princess, she stood over her, holding the gun Cid had given her and smiled at the princess. "Well, any last words?"
Before Stella could respond, Lorelei was thrown to the ground be a powerful blow of energy.
"Stella!"
It was Noctis.
Stella smiled in relief as Noctis helped her up.
"Stella," Noctis whispered, relief in his voice.
The two embraced. They failed to notice that Lorelei stood up from the fall and turned the safety off of the gun she held. A small red laser pointer appeared and danced around the area, until it fond the back of the prince. Stella opened her eyes to see the dart and released Noctis from her embrace.
"Run Noct," she screamed as she started to push him to the ground.
Lorelei aimed and fired.
Noctis was thrown to the hard floor. Stella remained standing, her eyes wide with fear.
"Stella!" the prince screamed.
The area was the engulfed with a thick plume of smoke as a steam pipe bellow the street was ruptured by the bullet and blew into the air. Thirty seconds later, the smoke cleared, but Stella wasn't there.
A few more moments later, the outline of the princess' body appeared, lying on the ground.
Lorelei remained standing, a high powered barrel gun in her hand.
"I'll have to give my thanks to Doctor Cid for such a wonderful weapon," Lorelei commented, a smile on her face
A scream came from behind the general as Lightning ran towards Lorelei, a thick strand of rose colored light suspended around her. With her index and middle fingers, she made a slash motion in the air and the wave of energy followed. It hit Lorelei on the chest, throwing her to the ground.
She then unleashed a furry of blasts on Lorelei. "YOU MONSTER!" she screamed. Lightning continued to wail Lorelei with slash after slash. Finally, a group of PSICOMs took notice and threw Lightning about twenty yards away from the general.
Noctis ignored the wave of fresh PSICOM soldiers rushing into the Crystal Shrine, or the fact that Lightning was now fighting the soldiers. All he cared about was Stella. He ran to her, fell to the ground and hugged her body close to him. A pool of scarlet blood had formed at the base of her back.
"Stella…STELLA!" Noctis was shaking the princess, trying to get a response. Something, anything.
Rather than the shocking orange eyes that were seen earlier that night, clear violet eyes filled with compassion looked up at Noctis.
"Are…are you crying…for…me" Stella asked, her breathing labored and pained.
"Stella, you're going to be okay, I'll get help, you'll be fine…"
The princess ignored what Noctis was saying. "Noct…Etro is calling me…"
"No, NO, you can't leave me Stella. Don't leave me alone!"
"Noct…you will never…be alone…I'll…always…"
"NO, don't say good-bye! Don't leave me!"
"I'm sorry…"
"DON'T SAY THAT!" Tears were pouring down the prince's face.
"It's my…time…Noct…" A sliver of blood trickled out of the princess's mouth. "I lo…love you…Noctis." At that Stella's eyes lost their vision and focus, and a final breath escaped her lips.
Noctis' eyes went wide with terror. Tears began to fall.
The prince gripped her body, trying to wish her to return. But she was gone.
For all her faults and his indifference to her, Stella was the only one who understood what was happening to him. United by the crystal, and bound by the same curse. But the prince remained here, holding the prince's lifeless body.
He continued to stare blankly onto the street. His body too numb to feel the pounding rainstorm that started to fall across the city. Too occupied to see Adrian and Rex rush over to him and try and drag him away. He was too terrified to see a raging Lightning throw blow after blow of energy at the running PSICOM army.
It was all too much.
Lightning continued to fight against the guards. At some point, a stray bullet flew toward Lightning. It hit her pocket and she felt something breaking within it. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a piece of the blue heart crystal she had kept in it. A blue mist surrounded her and soon the figure of a woman with floor length blue braided hair, purple skin, and light colored tattoo markings. As the being opened her yellow eyes, bits of snow appeared out of the muggy night air. Lightning shivered as she felt the temperature drop around her.
The sight caused the soldiers who were charging at Lightning to stop and stare at the being. A few seconds later, the being spread her arms apart and produced a series of ice shards and cold air and threw it at the men. Instantly they were frozen and any remaining soldiers were forced to retreat. She then cast more ice spells towards the place where the Algentian army had entered the city.
The being the looked at Lightning and gave her a comforting nod. "If you need me again, I will be there for you," she told Lightning. The blue mist then appeared again and the being disappeared and the heart crystal reformed in Lightning's hand.
Lightning barely had a moment to wonder about the being when she heard a scream from Quinn. "LIGHTNING MOVE!" She turned to see a series of Tenebrae reinforcement soldiers run down the street. Lightning ran off to the side and over to Quinn.
"What happened?" she yelled at him, her voice raspy and sore from screaming and fighting.
"Ste…Stella's," Quinn spoke, his own voice breaking. He removed his silver glasses and looked at Lightning. "She's dead."
"What?" Lightning cried in a whispering disbelief. "No, no no no." Tears fell down her face. She then collapsed to the ground.
"No! NO!" she said to herself.
Quinn silently cried as he watched Lightning. Her cries were downed out the sounds of machine guns and footsteps.
Author's Note: STELLA NO! OH MY GOSH, I KILLED STELLA! I'M A JERK!
I sometimes wonder if it's a requirement in all of my fics to have at least one character kick the bucket. Also, am I the first person to kill Stella in a dramatic fashion? It's sad because I really like this story's Stella and I hope that she is actually like this in the game. However, this was the only way I could see for the story to work, so I apologize to all the Stella fans out there. Yet I promise her death will not be in vain.
