No One Can Rewrite The Stars
How can we rewrite the stars?
Say that the world can be ours
Tonight
@lightisdays2k
Lightis Week 2018, Day 04: Free Day (Altissia)
This is actually one of a few snippets I’ve written for my Final Fantasy Versus XV crossover AU (aptly named in homage to XV’s original title when it was still part of the same series as XIII, though that’s where the similarities to Versus XIII end). It didn’t really feel “sad” enough for me to post it for tomorrow’s event, so I used the freebie day instead! Based of course on the song “Rewrite The Stars” from “The Greatest Showman”, and is a fic version of the actual song parody I wrote for it. Hope you all like! 💘
Just keep running. That’s what she commanded her relentless feet to do without disobedience. The blue soles of her gradient-flowing mud brown boots heated along the friction, but that hardly came anywhere close to wearing Lightning out. What seemed to really be responsible for dragging the ex-Guardian Corps sergeant down was the very motivation that caused her to sprint through the night-lit, but glowing Altissia and as far away from where the gondolas were as possible.
Lightning made it to some random empty building, seating herself and gripping both sides of her head with her elbows propped on her thighs. What she’d just gone through may not have outwardly been a disaster, but how she felt about it was an entirely different story. And the main issue’s name?
It was none other than “Noctis Lucis Caelum”.
“I agree to one day of sightseeing, and he goes and tells me that,” Lightning growled, frustration using itself as a spiked shield against more difficult feelings. “An easy little boat ride must be too hard to ask for.”
Why did things between them have to change, anyways? She never asked for things to get complicated beyond a lengthy escort roadtrip mission to where they were now. Okay, maybe it was inevitable that she’d wind up growing fond of the Lucians; distancing herself from people while stuck with them for long enough with the notion she wouldn’t come to care for them she’d learned centuries back in Cocoon was unrealistic.
Lightning wasn’t nearly as against it now like previously in her life. Befriending the four didn’t seem to bother her too much, but the result of getting to know more of Noctis of all of them was where things took quite the worst turn. True, Lucis’ prince could still stand to be more mature quite often in her eyes (“You still pick out the veggies in your food? Just how old are you?” “20.” “Huh. Could’ve fooled me.”), but for her to fall for someone she never thought would be so humble and surprisingly empathetic of a lonely upbringing turned parentless adulthood she could say was one of the rare things she never expected to occur in her life.
And now, there Lightning found herself stuck. Stuck dealing with her strange first love for someone she initially wanted nothing to do with, and vice-versa. To rub more salt in her unwanted new wound, the prince had just made it even harder to deal with than before. Wherever she’d left Noct, Lightning hoped she wouldn’t be found by him or anyone. Not like this, now or ever.
“Claire! There you are.”
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Wonderful. Well, she for one wasn’t in the mood to deal with “His Royal Highness”, so she turned her back bullishly and ignored him. But, that wasn’t enough to deter Noctis one bit. Lightning could tell he wasn’t going to leave until he got at least a word in, something she kept quiet to prevent to her best ability because Etro knows she was not in the mood to so much as look at him tonight.
“What’s wrong?” Noctis still bothered asking, following her averting eyes. “I can’t know unless you talk to me, you know.”
“Better leave it at that, then,” Lightning sneered, still refusing him much attention.
“You know I can’t and aren’t gonna.” Noctis in defiance took a seat next to Lightning, the woman having given up on turning around like a fussy child mad at their parent for sending them to time out. “Ready to talk?”
“There’s nothing up for discussing ‘cause nothing’s wrong.”
“Has anyone told you you’re one of the worst liars I’ve ever met? If there was nothing bothering you, you wouldn’t have stormed off from the gondola in a sudden huff.”
“Well, the boat did come to our stop. Can’t stay there forever.”
“Claire…”
“Alright, fine! You were honest with me, so I’ll do it back by asking you something!” Lightning jumped onto her feet, looking at Noctis with balled fists as he got up and maintained eye contact with her angry pair. “Why did you say that to me back there? Why?”
“What? You mean ‘I like you’?” Just repeating it sent Lightning’s heart flinching, her cheeks fighting not to match her hair color. “I said what I did because I meant it. And judging by you almost kissing me back there, saying you don’t feel the same would be a complete lie.”
“So what?! Like I give a damn on how I feel! That’s not important here, Noctis!” Lightning strode a few steps from Noctis, arms folded and chin tucked to her racing chest in conflicted frustration. “Maybe try not asking what’s wrong when you’re trying to pull someone into a possible scandal.”
“A scandal? Why would I be trying to start a scandal?”
“Think a little harder than you are right now. The boy encouraged so badly to marry someone more important as a symbol of the peace going and fooling around with another woman is bound to get a handful of people talking. Especially if said ‘other woman’ was only asked to help take him here and nothing else.”
Hmm, okay, now that Lightning was explaining herself a little more, it started to make sense where she was coming from. Even though Noctis’ engagement to Luna was technically called off due to unfortunate circumstances involving the genuineness of Niflheim’s so-called “peace treaty”, to marry her wasn’t something he’d ever be against the thought of. However, he was equally sure of the fact that he’d also come to love Lightning (or, Claire, as her beautiful secret real name turned out to be) just as much, a girl he never thought would be a kindred spirit to him in any actual number of years.
Though he’d have previously much rather cut his line after catching the whopper of a lifetime than let her know that, tonight changed everything. Noctis did the one thing he never thought he’d be able to and spoke up about his feelings, and he’d be damned if he was going to let that all be for naught. Especially so considering his affection was proven to be not-so one-sided as the others hinted at quite a few times prior. No, it was either try and get through to the otherwise impervious ex-soldier, or risk a worse result coming true from not bothering.
“I get why you think that,” Noctis reasoned. “But, I’m technically not engaged anymore, so it’s not like I’m dragging you into some kinda affair.”
“Even if that’s true, you know better than to make things harder between us anyways,” Lightning argued. “And this little thing you’re trying to do? It’s only getting you off-course, so do me a favor and cut it out.”
“But…” Noctis walked in front of Lightning and stayed there when she tried leaving again, wanting nothing more than for her to hear him out all the way. “If I like you, and you like me, then there shouldn’t be an issue.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Noct, and you know it. Nothing can happen between us without some kind of trouble getting in the way.”
“Hey, nothing in the world’s without its roadblocks. Especially since I figured you of all people didn’t give a damn about what someone else says for you to do or be.”
“This is different! Don’t compare me being smart enough not to let the world try and kill me with some… stupid little crush! This is less that and more ‘don’t do anything stupid to make yourself look like a fool because you couldn’t learn a little self-control’.”
Lightning let out a frustrated growl, storming out of the building and out to Altissia’s more impressive outer scenery telling Noctis not to follow her or he’d “seriously regret it”. Being the only other person who could successfully out-stubborn her, however, the prince pursued who and what his heart wanted. The 21-year old with pink hair looked just about fed up with him, trudging down the stairs of the area both of them were just in.
“Give up,” Lightning hissed.
“Not until you stop lying to yourself,” Noctis spat back. “Or if you won’t do that, then tell me what about this is making things so hard. At least give me that.”
Lightning stopped where her feet remained, her anger cooling somewhere close to her default level-headed stoicism, but now turned to Noctis with a noticeably sad glint in her eyes. “...Whatever you’re probably thinking is true, but for once, just wake up and think about it. The minute you think you have everything worked out, something always goes wrong to correct that. Someone like you and someone like me? It’s a recipe for disaster just waiting to happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that we both need to stick to what’s important and only that. You taking the throne back and marrying Lady Lunafreya as planned, and me sticking to my own duties until I can finally go back to the ones waiting for me back home.” She strode over, leaning against one of the glass tables on her white-gloved palm and staring her sullen reflection in the eyes. As much as it pained her to actually love someone she wasn’t meant to, there was for once nothing she could do to fight it without paying a price that she wasn’t willing to. “That’s our best plan, and it’s not gonna be any different.”
“Plans can always change.” Noctis again followed her, putting his hand on her resting one and getting her to look at him as if demanding a good answer without her usual hint of volatility. “Like I said before; ‘one night could be just what we need’.”
“How could you say that? Aren’t you worried of what’s gonna go wrong?”
“Things have been going wrong for me before I even hit puberty. I think whatever fate’s got to throw at me, it can and I wouldn’t even be shocked.”
Lightning scoffed and rolled her eyes, a part of her swallowing the slight inner temptation to laugh at how broad Noctis could be. She found herself crossing over and making her way up the stairs to the bridge overlooking one of Altissia’s many vast canals, the platform decorated with many lights not unlike that of buzzing fireflies flashing under the night sky like stars. Unsurprised that Noctis was close behind her, Lightning didn’t react until she’d realized neither had released the other’s hand.
“Now for my question to you, Claire,” Noctis started, his other hand cupping her warmed cheek. “Do you want this?”
Lightning hesitated to answer for a few seconds, but then grabbed onto Noctis’ wrist very gently and looked him right in the eyes to answer truthfully. “...More than I could ever say.”
“Then for just this one night at least, let’s have our own say in where we can go.”
Against her staunch judgement for once, Lightning took Noctis’ face in her own hands when his arms wrapped themselves around her waist after they both got to the other side of the bridge together. He did release her a bit following that, but now took ahold of her hand in his non-gloved one to twirl her to a two arms-long distance and returning forward to be close to her again. For their shared moment, all seemed in tune with the universe. Noctis and Lightning let themselves connect by their foreheads, now able to lovingly stare into the other’s differently shaded blue eyes while the small distance between them seemed to slowly close…
Both eyes were closed when it happened, but forgoing the forbidding world around them, the two lovers sealed their lips together tenderly. Noctis’ hands rested on her hips, and Lightning’s hands grasping his shoulders not wanting to let go. A few long moments into the kiss, though, her eyes fluttered open and widened with a cold splash of reality to the face. She quickly pulled right away from Noctis, hands gripping her arms and turning her back on him to walk a distance more.
“It’s true, I want you,” Lightning confessed, now more somber as opposed to irritated. “...But, in more ways than one, I just can’t have you. Don’t go against your duties, Noctis, because I’m not going against mine anytime soon.”
Noctis opened his mouth to try and say something to her, but Lightning had already run off with a crumbling heart to find the other three and forget the undeserved moment of guilty peace between her and him. His own heart, on the other hand, fell almost as heavily as he had for her. Ultimately giving up once she was too far from his lowering reach, Noctis sighed. This time, he didn’t follow Lightning. He may have also wanted to find their friends, but to go after someone who just wasn’t going to slow down for him would just be an endless chase.
He looked up at the night sky. The stars were beautiful that night for sure. But Noctis knew they weren’t going to rearrange themselves for him or anyone who also desired so anytime soon either.
