Unknown Soldier
oneshot fanfic by Dawn. Fire. Angel

Hey everyone! I'm back with a new oneshot! Yeah, this just came to me before, and I wrote it down, and was about to finish writing it when I was hit with a major block. Anyways, this oneshot helped me break it! YAY!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING IN THIS STORY!!! Except for the OC. :D

Reviews are much loved here!

Show me what it's like
To dream the black and white
So I can leave this world tonight.

Hold me, I'm too tight
Breathe the breath of life
So I can leave this world behind.

-Breaking Benjamin

.:Unknown Soldier:.

She was gone. Gone forever.

It was only through reminding himself daily that Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum believed he could accept the fact that she was truly gone, and let go of his feelings for her. So far, his way didn't seem to be working.

Walking down the stone path leading to the meadow in which she was buried, the Prince held his arms close to his chest, feeling the steady pulse of life beneath his right palm. The feeling wasn't comforting, but agonizing.

This is wrong. My heart should have stopped, not hers. Why did she have to go and be the hero? Now I have to live without her.

Cradled in his arms was a bouquet of wildflowers and lavender. The wildflowers, unnamed, were vibrant red and gold, whereas the lavender was a much softer purple. They had been her favourite flowers – wild ones first, then the lavender, which had always soothed her. Every time he met her, he would tuck a wildflower behind her ear and smile. The colour often clashed with her hair, but who cared? It looked good on her, making her more... feminine.

His lips twitched, but then, a second later, the humour faded from his face as the pure white marble headstone came into view.

He strode forward, eyes locked on the marble, and finally knelt before it, laying the bouquet at its feet. Then, he sat back. His eyes, for the millionth time, scanned the headstone, lingering upon her name then moving to the inscription he had engraved below it.

Lightning dia Oerba
Born: fifteenth of Frisea, New Arcaia 701
Died: seventh of Cose, New Arcaia 720

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

The inscription held many different meanings, but the most important was only known by Noctis himself.

Before I met you - and even now - I was immortal, Noctis. Immortal... and dead. Unless I catch a fatal disease or receive a deadly shot from a bullet, I will endure forever. No one knew about this, not even my friends. So why am I telling you? Because I trust you. I... I love you. Please, tell no one about what I've told you.

Noctis' breath came in short gasps, and he hugged himself hard, trying to regain control over himself, but no avail. Images of her assaulted him ferociously, forcing him to bend over. Tears ran down his face relentlessly as he scrabbled desperately at his chest, the hole in which was gaping wide.

Light...ning...

The word formed on his lips, but refused to escape. He bit his tongue, hard, and uttered a wordless cry that exuded power. The trees around him rustled uneasily, the grass swayed, and the animals around him felt unexplainable sorrow pierced their hearts. A tiny doe bounded away, keening quietly, the birds shook so hard that their nests almost fell from the tree, the rabbits in the undergrowth scrabbled at the wood, hoping to find something to ease its sudden agony...

Noctis wrenched his thoughts from the creatures, panting hard, as thunder rumbled overhead. The Prince didn't give the dark cloud so much a flicker of thought, not even when rain suddenly fell around him, drenching him to the bone. His hair plastered to his face; he brushed it off his eyes impatiently.

She was... so beautiful.

A vividly clear memory came into his mind. She was smiling at him, her ice-blue eyes soft and warm. The Crystal around her neck pulsed softly in time to the heartbeat he could feel beneath his palm. Her hand held his own steady. They were standing close... so close. He could breathe in her intoxicating scent, kiss her if he wanted.

He wished he had.

Noctis groaned to himself, and shook from head to toe. What was it about someone dying that made you lose a part of yourself? Because he had felt it once, when his family was slaughtered... and he was experiencing it again, because of Lightning.

I wish...

His pale hands reached out, and traced each elegant letter in her name.

I was dead.

Instead of her.

--

"Get away from him, you sonsofabitch!"

The men surrounding him were gone in less than a second as Lightning unleashed her fury on them. No one survived, as usual.

Noctis looked at her as she fastidiously cleaned her blade on one of the corpses, and smiled wryly, saying, "I could have taken them down myself. And I told you to stay with Laris and Marcus."

"Sure you could," she teased back, tucking the weapon back in its holster by her waist. "You only took three millennia to get past one of them. And besides, Laris and Marcus were too happy for my taste. Also, I couldn't bear the thought of you not coming back," she added quietly. He rolled his eyes, then reached out and brushed her cheek.

"I'll always come back to you. And thank you for getting rid of those soldiers for me," he said softly to her, causing her to turn faintly pink in the light of the moon and stars. Then, his hand moved to cover her belly, and he smiled again, but this time gently. "But you have this little one to look after now." She raised her eyes to his, and something exchanged between them. He kissed her cheek, and murmured, "Let me fight my own battles – I will never lose, and our child is our priority. If something happens to it – to you, even," he added hesitantly, "I would never forgive myself, do you understand?"

She nodded slowly, and sighed. "It's just so hard," she spoke quietly, her hand coming to rest – as it always seems to nowadays – over her stomach – or in this case, his hand. She looked up at him, and added, "I can't bear to see you surrounded like that. It makes me think that you're going to die..."

"I would never leave you," he promised her. "Not alone. Not before we marry."

She smiled at him faintly. "That's a good thing to hear."

He wrapped his arms around her, seemingly having forgotten where they were. It was only when he sensed a blast of heat and felt silent power rushing at them did he move, twisting as he teleported into the air so they were not hit. Lightning clung to him as his grip slipped on her arms.

"Don't let me go," he said to her.

She shook her head. "I... won't," she choked out, and abruptly slipped again. "Noctis!"

His arms tightened around her, and he reappeared on the roof of a building nearby. The tiles – half of which were shattered and blasted aside – slipped from under her feet, and Noctis caught her before she went careening down to the mine-filled floor.

"Thanks," she said to him. He merely nodded, his eyes fixed on something far away. If she hadn't been 'special' too, Lightning wouldn't know that his eyes were fixed on Stella Nox Fleuret, leader of the opposing army they were fighting, and his last lover.

Not that he made her pregnant or anything, like he had with Lightning. They had hated this war to the point where they were ready to do anything to stop it, and had devised a (failed) plan to try and stop their families from hating each other so. Part of it consisted of pretending to fall in love with each other – of course, as it turned out, she had really fallen for him, while he had been just the hormonal guy with no experience whatsoever with girls.

But of course, Lightning still felt a faint thrum of jealousy as she followed his gaze to the blond Princess, who happened to be a total beauty. A scowl marred her own lovely features, and Lightning narrowed her eyes on the other girl, who had yet to notice them.

"Lightning..."

The girl didn't answer – she was too busy thinking death threats at Stella.

"Light?"

Noctis stepped into her line of vision, and looked down at her. She looked up, startled, into his amber eyes. He kissed her briefly, and said sternly, "Remember, this is my fight. I want you to stay up here until it's over. Understand?"

Lightning scowled again, but nodded.

His features softened. "I know it's hard for you to just watch... but I love you too much to let you go." He kissed her again, sweeter this time, and made her sit before teleporting back into battle.

Lightning watched him appear before Stella. He said something to her, in a quiet undertone. The wind blew his words and scents her way, allowing her to hear exactly what he said.

"I see your father wasted no time in placing you back to where you belong," Noctis said softly.

Stella leaned forward on her mount, and answered in her sweet soprano, "And you have returned against us, have you, Lord Noctis?"

Noctis, seemingly unarmed, raised one eyebrow at her words, then shrugged. "I am doing my duty to my people. You attack me. It is only right that I have to defend my country and my people."

"You know I do not do these acts out of hate for you or your country, Noct," Stella said to him quietly. "You know as well as I do that our plan still can work, that peace can rule our countries and the hearts of our people. All it takes is just one ceremony, and it's over. This war can finally end."

Noctis blinked at her, obviously surprised. "You," he said, pronouncing each word carefully, "Are deluded."

Stella knitted her brows together. "Excuse me?"

"You believe that if we wed, everything will be over? Did you not listen to anything your father said to you? He will kill all of us if I so much as touch you without a blade. And my people come first, Stella, no matter what anyone says." He raised his head higher. "But there is also another way this war can end, one part of a plan you didn't consider."

Stella's lips twisted into a half-smile. "Tell me, then."

Noctis face was expressionless. "Before I do, I would just like to mention to you that you're too late. I've found another woman who loves me more than anything in this world, and I love her more than my own life, even. We're to marry in two weeks time. She carries my child."

Stella hissed quietly, so quietly that Lightning wondered if Noctis heard. "Who is she?"

"Commander Lightning of Team Nora, the Resistance group in Pulse," Noctis said softly, and his face turned to where Lightning was watching anxiously on the roof. He smiled.

Stella's eyes flashed. "Then you're still unaware of my feelings for you."

Noctis turned back to her. "I've been aware of them since the moment we first kissed."

"So tell me this other way, if it doesn't involve our marriage," Stella said slightly irritably.

Noctis smiled, a single, perfect twist of his full lips.

"With your death."

And he called forth his sword just as Stella leaped from the back of her mount to attack him.

As he was busy with Stella, someone gave a signal that only Lightning saw. She watched as one of Stella's men raised a gun and aimed for her dark Prince.

Like she was living a nightmare, Lightning exploded from her hiding place and flew towards him. She was fast, fast enough to knock the gun out of the guy's hand just as he shot. The bullet, instead of hitting Noctis, buried itself in Stella's arm.

Noctis took advantage of the distraction, and overpowered her.

Another soldier raised a gun behind Lightning's back; she was too busy fighting off the rest of Stella's troops who tried to rush to their Princess's aid.

The shot resounded throughout the place, and Lightning's eyes snapped up, meeting Noctis' cobalt blue ones a second before the bullet hit flesh, then muscle and beyond, and blood spattered the night.

Lightning looked down at her chest in horror for one long moment. And, instead of falling down, dead and bloodied, like he expected, she did something that startled everyone around them.

She disappeared.

--

She was as good as dead. No one had ever found her since that day, one year ago.

And she had taken their child with her.

Noctis sat down with his back to the headstone, suddenly feeling very, very sleepy. His vision flickered, and he shut his eyes, feeling strangely dizzy and numb. His head drooped so the raindrops fell on his head. His body ached and trembled. His head pounded, and as thunder cracked around him, the sound reverberated in his ears.

The rain pounded on him relentlessly even as he drifted into unconsciousness.

--

His body ached badly. That was the first thing he noticed as he finally came around.

The next thing he noticed almost made him jump out of his skin. Soft hands touched his face, fingertips tracing the planes of his face, the curve of his lips. He recognized this touch, but surely it didn't exist anymore?

If it was a dream, he didn't want to wake up, that's for sure. Because it most certainly was. There was no way – no Etro-damned way – that these pair of hands belonged to her.

Only...

They did.

The Prince stirred. Her voice, gentle and soothing as it always had been when she was speaking to him, said, "Wake up, Noctis."

He didn't move. He just groaned.

"Noct..." he recognized the note of exasperation in her voice.

"I'm dreaming again," he muttered. "And you have no right to wake me up from such a nice dream." He heard short, amused laughter, but he dismissed it. Just another part of the dream, as always. Always weird...

In the background, someone muttered something he couldn't hear over the ringing in his ears. Why were his ears ringing, and why did he only just find out about that? He had no idea. Dreams were weird like that sometimes, he guessed.

"Just open your eyes," her voice coaxed. "Just open them, and you'll see that it's not a dream."

A gentle hand was laid down on his cheek. The hand was cold.

He heard a baby crying.

The same person in the background said something again, and her voice replied, "Yes, get Vanille. She's the aunt after all... no, keep her from Snow until he's better, would you? Thanks, Marcus. That'll be great."

Marcus? She was talking to Marcus? Or rather, her voice was...

Noctis reached out blindly with one hand, and that hand brushed soft cheek and silky hair.

He froze.

And opened his eyes.

She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling with mirth. His hand was on her cheek, frozen in place. She was there, beautiful as ever. She was in different clothes, ones he didn't recognize. She was... whole. No blood, not dead...

He shot upright and practically dragged her into his arms.

When their kiss had ended, she buried her face in his chest, and he did the same into her sweet-smelling hair, breathing in her scent with short gasps, arms tight around her.

"I've missed you," he breathed in her ear. "I've missed you so much."

She nodded into his chest. "I know. It was terrible for me too."

He backed away slightly so he could look at her face. "Where have you been?" he demanded. "And... where's our child?"

Lightning gazed at him calmly.

Noctis growled. "Light..."

"I've been with my family."

This disconcerted him. "Your what?"

She gazed at him as though she never wanted to look away. "My family," she enunciated clearly, then amended, "Well, not my whole family. Just my parents and my little sister." When he looked confusedly at her, she sighed. "After I was shot, I dematerialized into the Shadowrealms by accident. You have no idea how terrified I was there, alone. One minute I was in front of you, the other, I was in the timeless land. So, because it was timeless, I couldn't die. My wound healed itself... and my sister came to fetch me home." Seeing his knitted brows of confusion, she clarified, "And by home, I mean the place I was born, the place where my parents lived. I spent a few months up there, growing bigger, until I finally gave birth to our child."

Here, Noctis interrupted, "Is it a boy or a girl? Who does it look like?"

She looked amused. "Would you let me finish?"

He looked chagrined, but muttered, "Sorry."

She smiled. "I've missed your expressions."

He raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"

She sighed. "Anyways, after that, I decided to return here... well, not here, in your castle. Just, back to Cocoon. Somehow or rather, I ended up back in Pulse, and it took me a few weeks to secure a transport back. Most people thought I was a widow or a runaway, with Luna* in my arms."

"Luna? Our child... is a girl?" Noctis asked, his eyes widening.

A small smile slipped across Lightning's lips. "Yes. Luna Nox Caelum. She looks just like you – she even has your ever-changing eyes."

Noctis smiled at the thought. "It was always a curse in my family."

"A curse?" Lightning asked, surprised. "But I see it as the beauty of you."

He grimaced at her. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but it means she would have rages in her early years."

Lightning shrugged. "It's okay. We'll get used to it."

He smiled. "I'm glad you think so, although you might not for long."

She shrugged again, then continued with her story, "When I finally returned here, to Cocoon, I found that I couldn't see you just then... With Luna in my arms, I left to visit Sazh and Hina. She's grown real big now," Lightning added. "I could ride her by the time I left them. Anyways, I watched you for a while afterwards... For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to reveal myself to you. It was only when I saw you go to the tombstone and fall asleep in the rain did I come out of my hiding place and bring you back here... You are extremely ill, Noctis, and have been for a week now. I thought you wouldn't make it," she whispered.

Noctis looked into her eyes. "I promised you I'd never leave you." She smiled gratefully at him, and he lapsed into silence, brooding over something she said. At last, he voiced his thoughts. "Why couldn't you come out to see me? I was literally going insane without you..."

"I know," she said sharply. "Don't remind me of that. I hated it, but something held me back. For some reason, it was like every time I tried to come out and speak with you, something would chain me back, either Luna crying or my feet simply wouldn't move. It was like... someone trying to stop us from seeing each other..." She hesitated, then shook her head. "Sorry, I was probably just imagining things. Maybe I just..." she trailed off, then sighed. "I really have no idea."

Noctis sighed with her. "That's all right. As long as I have you here with me now..." he pulled her close again and pressed his lips to hers.

Lightning's arms went around his body just as a shriek of surprise coming from somewhere outside the room forced them to break apart and glance at the door.

"Vanille and Laris," they spoke together as Vanille's voice, shrill and furious, berated Laris for apparently having sneaked up on her. Then there was a sputter, and Luna Nox Caelum, daughter of Noctis Lucis Caelum and Lightning dia Oerba, Crown Princess of Arcaia, began to wail.

Noctis sighed. "Looks like we have to stage our reunion a little later." Lightning rolled her eyes, and he continued, "So, when can I meet my little Princess?"

Laughing, Lightning took his arm and led him out the door to where Vanille was now all but beating up Laris for terrifying both her and little Luna.

"Noctis," Lightning announced proudly, taking her daughter from Vanille's arms and handing her to Noctis, "this is your daughter, Luna."

Amber met amber, and the tiny face swathed in cloth peered up at the man who was her father...

And smiled.

Another unknown soldier is born before us...

*Luna was just a name I thought fitted better than 'Ignis' which means fire in Latin (Ignis was my first choice, then I decided it was too male. Nimbus - cloud - was a guy's name too, and Toni - I can't remember what it meant - was too common. Fulgur was too rough lol). So her name's 'Moon of the Night Sky' :D By the way, it has nothing to do with Yuki Minamoto's character 'Luna Sola – the Lonely Moon'. It's just a name.

Please review!! Sequel might come out (about the OC) after It's Just A Crush. Preview of sequel is to be posted beginning of August!! :D