The next week was a waking nightmare.
Xavier's condition deteriorated rapidly once Nana knew the truth. Like his body had been holding on just long enough for her to remember, and now that she did, it could finally let go.
His skin became translucent first—pale to the point of being see-through, showing the faint glow of his light evol beneath like veins of starlight. His hair seemed to sparkle with actual stardust. When he moved, he left trails of light in the air that faded slowly, like afterimages.
He was becoming more star than human.
His powers failed more frequently. Teleportation became impossible—twice he tried and simply collapsed mid-attempt. His light evol flickered like a faulty bulb.
Once, during a training session at the Hunter Association, it went out completely for ten full minutes, and Xavier had stood frozen in the middle of the room, terror in his eyes as he wondered if this was it, if he was fading right then and there.But he'd recovered. Barely.
The Association put him on medical leave.
Nana took time off too, refusing to leave his side. They spent every moment together—watching movies neither of them paid attention to, cooking meals Xavier couldn't eat anymore (he claimed he wasn't hungry, but Nana suspected his fading body simply didn't need food), sitting on his balcony watching stars that Xavier seemed to understand in ways she never could.
"That one," Xavier pointed to a particularly bright star.
"That's where Philos was. Is. Time works differently there. The kingdom I left might still be frozen in the moment I abandoned it, or it might have rebuilt and thrived for millennia without me. I don't know anymore."
"Do you miss it?" Nana asked softly.
"Sometimes. I miss the people I knew. The friends I had before I was expected to be a king. The simplicity of being a child with no weight on my shoulders."
Xavier's hand found hers, squeezed gently.
"But I don't regret leaving. How could I, when leaving brought me to you?"
Nana couldn't answer through the lump in her throat.
They talked about everything in those days. Xavier told her stories from lifetimes she couldn't fully remember—the time she'd accidentally set fire to the palace kitchen in the Qing Dynasty trying to make him a birthday surprise, the night in the Valley Kingdom when she'd drunkenly declared her love to a very flustered Xavier in front of the entire court, the afternoon on Philos when she'd convinced him to skip his royal duties to catch frogs in a pond.
"You were always terrible at catching frogs," Xavier said with a fond smile.
"You'd announce your presence by squealing every time you saw one, then wonder why they hopped away."
"I was twelve!" Nana protested, laughing through her tears.
"You were adorable. You still are."
Nana learned that Xavier's favorite color was actually silver-blue (like starlight, he'd said), that he had a weakness for sweet things despite his stoic exterior, that he'd learned to dance in Philos's royal court and had been considered one of the best dancers in the kingdom.
"Is that why you were so good at dancing at your birthday?" Nana asked.
"Centuries of practice helps."
Xavier's smile was bittersweet.
"I've danced with you in three lifetimes now. You stepped on my feet each time. I hope in our next life, you finally learn to not do that."
"If there is a next life," Nana whispered.
"There will be. Somehow. I'll find my way back to you. Even if it takes millennia. Even if I have to tear through the fabric of the universe. I'll come back to you, Starlight. I promise."
It was a promise Xavier had no way of keeping. But Nana let herself believe anyway.
The star tassel she'd made him—the bright yellow plush—stayed in Xavier's pocket constantly. He'd touch it compulsively, like a talisman, like proof that she was real and this lifetime had happened.
"Will you keep the others? When you fade?"
Nana asked one afternoon, looking at the three ancient tassels displayed in his apartment.
"I hope I can take them with me ,but this time I don't have enough power"
Xavier's expression was pained. "But I'll remember them. Every thread, every star-shape, every moment you gave them to me. Memory is the one thing I get to keep."
"Then make sure you remember this."
Nana took his face in her hands.
"Remember that in this lifetime, I knew the truth. I remembered. I loved you consciously, fully, with the weight of four lifetimes behind it. Remember that you weren't alone this time. That we faced the end together."
"I'll remember." Xavier's voice broke.
"I'll carry this lifetime's memories like treasure. You, understanding everything. You, choosing to stay despite knowing our tragedy. You, loving me anyway. Nana—"
His hands covered hers.
"This lifetime, painful as the ending is, might be my favorite. Because you finally saw me. Really saw me. All the grief, all the love, all the centuries of waiting—you saw it all and loved me anyway."
"I always love you. In every life. Even the ones where I don't remember. My soul knows you, Xavier. It's been drawn to you since that first day on Philos when I fell out of that tree."
"And I'll always catch you. In every lifetime. In every fall. I'll always be there to catch you, Starlight."
It was a beautiful promise.
And in three days, it would break.
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The Last Day
The mission briefing was routine. Mid-level Wanderers in the industrial district. Nana's team had handled worse. She was suiting up, checking her gear, trying to focus despite the knot of dread that had been living in her chest for days.
Xavier had been getting worse. This morning, she could see through his hand when he'd reached out to touch her face. Could see the sunrise behind him through his chest. His light evol was barely a flicker now, like a candle about to go out.
"Just one more day,"
he'd whispered, his voice already starting to sound distant. "Maybe two. Then—"
He didn't finish. Didn't need to.Nana had kissed him desperately, memorizing the feel of his lips (still solid, still real, still here), and forced herself to go to work. Because Xavier had insisted. Because he'd said
"live normally for as long as you can. Don't let the ending define everything."
Because sitting and watching him fade felt like dying herself.
But now, standing in the Hunter Association headquarters, Nana's phone buzzed in her pocket.
A text from Xavier. Just three words:
It's time, Starlight.
Nana's world tilted.
"I have to go," she said, her voice hollow.
"What? Nana, the mission—"
"I HAVE TO GO!"
She ran. Didn't bother with explanations, didn't care about the consequences, didn't think about the civilians who needed protecting. All she could think about was Xavier, alone on his balcony, fading into stardust without her there.
She wouldn't let him die alone. Not after everything. Not after he'd held her through four deaths. Not when she could finally be there for him.
Nana ran through Linkon's streets like the Wanderers were chasing her. People shouted as she shoved past them. Cars honked. She didn't care. Didn't slow down. Just ran and ran and ran until she reached their apartment building.
Up the stairs. Down the hall. Xavier's door—unlocked, waiting for her.
The apartment was dark except for the balcony, where starlight illuminated a single figure sitting in their usual chair, his body so translucent he was barely visible against the night sky.
Xavier!"
Nana's voice broke as she rushed onto the balcony.
He turned his head slowly, and Nana's heart shattered at the sight. His blue eyes were dimmed almost to gray, like the light behind them was dying. His silver hair seemed to be dissolving already, individual strands turning to glittering particles that drifted upward. His skin was so translucent she could see the stars through him.
But he smiled. That soft, sad, beautiful smile that she'd loved across four lifetimes.
"You came,"
Xavier's voice was barely a whisper, already sounding like it was coming from very far away. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time."
"Of course I came."
Nana dropped to her knees beside his chair, her hands hovering over him, afraid to touch in case he dissolved under her fingers.
"Xavier, I—"
"Come here."
Xavier's hand—nearly transparent now—reached out to her.
"Please. I don't want to fade alone."
Nana carefully, so carefully, took his hand and helped him slide down to sit on the balcony floor. Then she pulled his head into her lap, cradling him like she'd done a hundred times before during their peaceful evenings together.
Except this time, his head felt weightless. Insubstantial. Like holding mist.
"That's better," Xavier murmured, his eyes drifting closed.
"This is... this is how I want to remember you. Looking down at me. Your face the last thing I see."
"Don't,"
Nana sobbed, her tears falling onto his translucent face.
"Don't say goodbye. Please. Xavier, please fight this. Please stay."
"I can't, Starlight."
Xavier's hand—barely visible now—reached up to cup her cheek. She could barely feel his touch, like a ghost of sensation.
"The stars are calling too loudly. Philos wants its Crown Prince back. I have to go home."
"This is your home! Here! With me!"
Nana's voice cracked completely.
"Please, Xavier. Please don't leave me. I love you. I love you so much. I finally remember everything, finally understand, and now you're—"
"I know."
Xavier's smile was achingly tender.
"And you have no idea how much that means. That you remember. That you understand. That in this lifetime, you chose to love me knowing exactly what we were. Nana—"
His voice was fading, becoming whisper-quiet.
"That's everything. That's all I ever wanted."
Nana looked down at him, at the light evol in his chest that was barely flickering now—a dying ember where once had been brilliant starlight. She could see his heartbeat slowing, each beat weaker than the last.This was it.
This was really happening.
Xavier was dying in her arms. And for the first time across four lifetimes, Nana was conscious for every devastating second of it.
"Starlight," Xavier whispered,
"this is my final moment. I'm glad—so glad—that you're here."
"I'm here,"
Nana sobbed, leaning down to press kisses to his face—his forehead, his eyelids, his cheeks, his jaw, his lips. Desperate, frantic kisses, trying to memorize the feel of him before he disappeared completely.
"I'm here, Xavier. I'm not leaving. Please—please tell me you'll find me again?"
"I'll try."
Xavier's voice was barely audible now.
"I don't know if I can. Don't know if stars reborn like humans do. But if there's any way—any way at all—I'll find my way back to you. I promise, Starlight. I'll always search for you. Even from the sky."
"I'll look for you too. Every night. Every star. I'll search until I find you."
"I know you will." Xavier's hand fell from her cheek, too weak to hold it up anymore.
"My stubborn Starlight. Never giving up. That's why I love you."
Nana felt his heartbeat stutter once. Twice.
Then stop.
"No."
Nana's voice was barely human.
"No, Xavier, please. Please don't—"
Xavier's eyes opened one last time—those beautiful blue eyes that had watched her die four times, that had loved her across centuries, that held more grief and love than any soul should have to carry.
"Thank you,"
he whispered, his voice like wind. "For every lifetime. For every moment. For remembering. For—" His lips curved into one final smile.
"For being my Starlight."
His eyes drifted closed.
His chest stopped moving.
And his body began to dissolve.
"NO!" Nana screamed into the night.
"NO! XAVIER, DON'T YOU DARE! COME BACK! COME BACK!"
But Xavier's body was turning to stardust in her arms—beautiful, glittering particles of light that shouldn't have been beautiful because they were all that remained of the person she loved most in any universe.
His legs dissolved first, becoming streams of light that drifted upward. Then his torso, his arms, his chest where his heart had just stopped beating.
Nana tried desperately to hold on, to keep him solid, but the stardust slipped through her fingers like water.
"Please," she sobbed.
"Please, universe, take me instead. Let me be the one who fades. Let me be the one who—"
But the universe, as always, didn't listen.
Xavier's face dissolved last—that beautiful face she'd loved across four lifetimes, that smile she'd memorized in a thousand different moments. His silver hair became streams of starlight. His pale skin became glittering dust. His closed eyes, his soft smile—all of it turned to light and drifted upward toward the night sky.
"I love you," Nana whispered desperately to the particles still swirling around her.
"I love you, Xavier. Please remember. Please—"
The last of Xavier's stardust rose from her lap, swirled around her once like a final embrace, then shot upward into the night sky.
Nana watched through her tears as the particles rose higher and higher, faster and faster, until they merged with the stars above.
And then—
A new star appeared.
Right there, directly above their balcony.
A star that hadn't existed moments before. The brightest star Nana had ever seen, so brilliant it dimmed everything around it. A star that pulsed with gentle light, like a heartbeat, like Xavier's light evol had once pulsed.
A star that twinkled down at her with what felt like recognition.
"Xavier,"
Nana sobbed, reaching up toward the impossible distance between them. "Is that you? Can you hear me?"
The star pulsed brighter, just once, like an answer.
And Nana broke completely.She curled up on the balcony floor where Xavier had just died in her arms, where his stardust had swirled around her, where the last of his warmth had faded into nothing. She cried until her voice gave out, until her eyes were swollen shut, until her throat was raw and her chest ached from the force of her sobs.
She cried for Xavier—for the prince who'd chosen love over duty, for the star who'd spent centuries searching for her, for the man who'd just sacrificed his chance at rebirth to save her.
Because Nana had noticed. Had felt it the moment Xavier's heart stopped.
She looked down at her palm—the palm that had carried a star-shaped mark since birth, that had glowed whenever Xavier was near, that had connected them across lifetimes.
The mark was gone.
Not faded. Not dim. Completely, utterly gone, like it had never existed.
The curse had been broken.
Xavier, in his final moments, had somehow taken the curse with him. Had broken the cycle that had killed her at twenty-two for four lifetimes. Had sacrificed his chance at being reborn to ensure she could live past twenty-three.
"You idiot,"
Nana sobbed at the new star above her.
"You beautiful, selfless idiot. You gave up everything. Even your chance to come back. Even the possibility of us meeting again. You gave it all up just so I could live."
The star pulsed gently, like it was listening.
"How am I supposed to live without you?"
Nana's voice cracked.
"How am I supposed to smile, laugh, exist in a world where you're so far away? Xavier, you asked me to promise I'd live fully. But how can I when you took my heart with you to the sky?"
The balcony was getting wet. Nana realized distantly that it had started to rain—soft, gentle rain that felt like the universe crying with her.
Like the sky itself was mourning the loss of its Crown Star.
Or maybe Xavier was crying too. Maybe stars could shed tears. Maybe every raindrop was Xavier's grief at having to leave her.
Nana stayed on the balcony all night, not caring about the rain soaking her clothes, not caring about the cold, not caring about anything except the new star that pulsed gently above her.
She talked to it. Told it about her day, about the mission she'd abandoned, about how the Hunter Association would probably fire her for leaving civilians in danger. About how she didn't care because nothing mattered anymore.
"I was supposed to die at twenty-two,"
she whispered to the star.
"Four times, I've died at that age. Always one day before my twenty-third birthday. Always in your arms. But you—" Her voice broke.
"You changed fate. You took the curse with you. Now I'll live past twenty-three. Past thirty. Past fifty. I'll live a whole long life. And every single day, I'll look up at you and wish you were here instead."
The star twinkled, steady and bright and impossibly far away.
As dawn approached, as the rain finally stopped and the sky began to lighten, Nana forced herself to stand. Her body ached from sitting on the hard balcony floor all night. Her eyes were so swollen she could barely see. Her voice was completely gone, reduced to barely-there whispers.
But she stood. Because Xavier had asked her to live. And even though it felt impossible, even though every breath hurt without him, Nana would try.
"I love you," she whispered one more time to Xavier's star.
"I'll love you forever. And Xavier—"
Her hand pressed against her chest, over her heart.
"Thank you. For everything. For centuries of love. For breaking my curse. For—" Tears fell again. "For choosing me. Every single time."
The star pulsed one final time as the sun rose, its light fading into the brightness of day.
But Nana knew it was still there. Would always be there. The brightest star in the night sky, watching over her, loving her from an impossible distance.
Xavier had become what he'd always been meant to be—a star.
Beautiful. Brilliant. Eternal.
And completely, devastatingly out of reach.
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⭐⭐⭐
To be continued ___