Not a sound escaped after the violence that had shattered the ball drew silent. Mouths hung open, eyes remained wide and throats fell mute as crimson seeped from the fallen figure splayed in front of their Princess's throne. Her royal dark gown--as bejeweled as the twinkling gas clouds littering the vastness of space around their sailing vessel--was now soiled with the blood of her beloved and pooled around her trembling frame as she knelt to bring the gasping man into her arms. Crystal teardrops trailed down her milky white cheeks while she lovingly pulled tangled dark curls back from the quickly waning face flickering with brilliant dying purple irises. Air wheezed from his gurgling lungs trapped beneath his once pristine opal-colored Captain's jacket but he nestled into her, clear in his mind that these last precious moments were all they had. He reached shaky hands up and latched them onto hers, fingers twining like souls that never got to...