Time for another chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, read, faved and followed this story. I very much appreciate it and I look forward to more of them. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero characters in any way other than my OCs

Three days had passed since Elanor was kidnapped by the Confederacy, three days since the capital had been penetrated, three days since this all began. Louise frowned as she was currently patrolling the northern sector yet again as Alexander and Claudia was with her, the night was a bit chilly making her glad that she had her scarf all the time as she wrapped it tighter around her as she tried not to sneeze, "Mou~ when's our shift finished?" she asked.

"After one last round," Alexander said, "eager to go back to the barracks?"

"It's freezing Alexander, wouldn't you rather be in bed then patrolling out here?" Louise asked.

"I don't know…I always see this as a leisurely stroll around the northern sector," he said with a smile as Claudia grinned behind them.

"Maybe next time you two should be the only ones to actually be patrolling, I think you two have lots to talk about," she said.

"Stop it Claudia," Louise said as Alexander blushed as she noticed it again, ever since he was cut off at the party he had always been blushing whenever he was around Louise. He had never blushed whenever he was around her and it made her wonder what exactly he wanted to say to her then, when she asked about it he said that it wasn't important and that she shouldn't worry about it. "It's quite tonight…" Louise commented as the streets were completely empty of people and it felt like they were patrolling a ghost town rather then the capital of Belfast.

"People are afraid to come out these days," Claudia said, "I think they've realised that not even the capital is safe from the Confederacy."

"I can imagine, I always thought that the capital would be the last place you expect an attack," Louise admitted, for three days the atmosphere around the capital had been nothing short of tense. People were now too afraid to come out at night and even in the day time there were less people about as they all stayed indoors, the military presence, both regular and militia alike, increased as it was now common to see armed patrols around the place. However despite the Royal Guard's best efforts to capture the intruders they had ultimately failed and Eleanor was nowhere to be found, that had a huge impact on the morale of the people as without their beloved President's daughter they wondered what would happen to her. Amanda was the worst one hit as she spent hours, sometimes sleepless nights, pouring over information and reports…she had not slept at all and it was worrying Elisia as well the point that the girl begged Louise to talk to Amanda.

She tried talking to Amanda but she was an utter wreck and could hardly hold a conversation together, Louise was now starting to worry whether or not the Belfast military would be able to keep it together. As she bumped into a pole because she wasn't watching where she was looking, nor did she do her usual routine of scanning everything in front of her as she usually did, "Something on your mind?" Alexander asked as Louise cursed as she rubbed her forehead.

"Nothing to worry about," Louise said, "do you think the President's daughter will be found soon?"

"I don't know," Alexander said, "I've heard a lot of rumours that she might not be in Belfast anymore, she might have already been taken deep into enemy lines."

"Damn it…" Louise cursed, it was times like these that she hated being helpless, that she wished that she had magic flowing in her. If she had magic…if she had used some sort of magic then perhaps things wouldn't be so chaotic right now.

"Don't worry Louise," Claudia said reassuringly, "the people of Belfast will not give up so easily; we will continue to fight on until the very end."

"Right…" Louise said though inside she wasn't so sure about that as they finished their patrols as they changed shifts with another team before heading to the barracks. "You guys go on ahead…I have some things to take care of," she told Alexander and Claudia as they looked at each other before nodding. Louise then went to a part of the capital where there was an uphill section as she sat on a bench and looked up to the clear sky where the moon was shining. She found this place by chance when she was taking a walk and it was the perfect place for her to actually relax after a hard mission, it was nice as not a lot of people came by so she almost had the entire place to herself.

Right now she just wanted to be alone and contemplate on the situation, no doubt things will get harder from now on she never doubted that, but she wondered for the first time if she was going to lose someone soon…it was always on the back of her mind the more the war continued. She didn't want to lose any of her friends, not Claudia, Suzie, Alice, Mason or…or even Alexander…it terrified her to think that she would one day not be able to see them; to never hear them laugh or talk again…she didn't know what to do. "Louise…" Alexander said as Louise snapped up to see Alexander there as she was surprised.

"A-Alexander…what are you doing here?" Louise asked.

"I followed you of course," Alexander said, "you looked troubled during our patrol so I thought I could help with whatever trouble you're having at the moment."

"Hehe…thanks," Louise said as Alexander sat next to her as she drew her knee up as she shuffled closer to him, "say Alexander…do you…do you think we'll be alright?"

"Hmm? If you mean whether or not we'll survive then I say yes…we'll be alright," Alexander said.

"I'm scared Alexander," Louise whispered, "I'm scared not of dying, but that I'll see my friends die…you, Suzie, Claudia everyone…I can't begin to even comprehend what I would do if something happens."

"Come here," Alexander said as Louise allowed herself to be drawn to him, "don't worry about it Louise. Squad 13's a tough squad, we've been through a lot together and we know what to do by now, we won't die so easily," as Louise nodded a bit. "Whatever happens…we will all be there right beside you Louise, you're the Heroine of Barton, we won't give up on you so easily…so don't give up on us so easily either."

"Okay," Louise said meekly, "promise me one thing though?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Don't die okay? I don't want you to die…you're…you're the only one who knows everything about me…you're special to me," Louise said blushing as she did so.

"Sure, I promise you Louise," Alexander said as he hugged her tighter, "but promise me something in return? Don't ever lose hope that we'll survive this war…I hate to see you so down."

"Sure sounds fair enough," Louise said smiling as she did so.

"Alright squad we got our next mission, I know we've been patrolling the capital these last three days but command's given us our next mission and it's an important one. We have report that Eleanor is hidden on a base around here," Mason said pointing to a mountainous terrain as Lousie snapped up, they finally found her? That made Louise glad and excited at this mission, "We'll be part of a strike force that's going to clear out the mountain, the person in charge of this whole operation will be Amanda Cutler with Andrew Rose being her deputy," as Louise blanched at what was said as Suzie was trembling a little bit.

"Sir!" Louise said, "Are you sure that's a good idea? The Cutler and Rose family are rivals."

"We're aware of that, but Amanda and Andrew has experience in these kinds of operation and therefore they're the only ones that was suitable for the job," Mason said, "rest assured that they will put aside their differences and make sure that they do their jobs and bring her home safely. We'll be working with the 4th squad since our last operation with them went smoothly and we're able to coordinate things between them, a unit from the regular military will be supporting us though we don't know what their role will be."

"What about the Royal Guards?" Claudia asked, "Will they be supporting us?"

"Their primary role is to protect the capital and the President so unfortunately they won't be with us for this operation," Mason said.

"So wait we're cleaning up their mess?" Robert asked.

"Seems that way," Mason said as the squad grumbled their discontent, "alright this time we'll be the one to be doing the front assault while the 4th squad will be attacking their rear. Then once we're sure that they won't be able to escape and take Eleanor somewhere else we'll close in for the kill, however I must stress that we cannot commence attacking until all units are in position. If the net hasn't been closed yet and the enemy spots us then they'll escape with Eleanor and it'll be a mission failure. Understand?" as the squad nodded, "Alright be ready to move out in an hour," as Louise couldn't wait to get started, she was eager to rescue Eleanor because Eleanor was just someone who wanted the war to end. She was simply an innocent person caught up in the flames of war, she didn't deserve to be kidnapped, Louise wanted to make sure that Eleanor would be able to return home as she suited up and grabbed her rifle.

"Hey there Louise," Daniel said as Louise looked at her.

"Hi Daniel? How's the kids?" Louise asked.

"Great, they've been bored though being stuck in the house, though I prefer for them to be in the house then outside to be honest," Daniel said.

"I can understand," Louise said, "I'm a little bit more worried about the mountains though...it's going to be hard climbing up," as although her fitness has vastly improved thanks to the constant fighting and training Louise was still wasn't sure if she would be able to climb up the mountain without panting in exhaustion.

"Not to mention all the snipers," Daniel grimaced, "however thankfully there aren't many armoured vehicles around the base though it also means the Falcon will have a hard time coming up the slopes so we can't rely on it for support this time."

"When has that ever changed?" Louise laughed as Daniel laughed as well, "That means us infantry needs to step up, have they finally finished testing the new bullets?"

"Yep, first batch just came out, should already be with us," Daniel said.

"Alright then," Louise said pulling the loading mechanism as it loaded the bullet with a satisfying click, "let's do this."

The Anders Mountain range was one of the tallest ranges in all of Belfast, if you weren't careful you could easily fall to your death, thankfully there were railings all over the edges so tourists don't accidentally die. Not to mention there were plenty of signs that told them where things were so people didn't get lost, however it would take an experienced climber to go to where the Belfast military needed to go as Louise's legs were burning by the time they stopped. "Ok...I think...I need...to get some...more exercises," she said wheezing in between words.

"I thought I was a goner a while back," Claudia said as she was sweating crazily, "this is even harder then the training."

"Don't say that," Suzie said, "or else they really will put it as part of our training...I can't take another step."

"Good work squad," Mason said, "you all managed to get here in time."

"Shut up..." Alicia muttered, "you got to ride on the Falcon up here."

"Hey it wasn't easy either you know," Mason said with a pained expression, "you don't know how many times we were about to fall off the cliff and-" he was then interrupted as Louise climbed up and smacked him on the head.

"Yeah right!" she exclaimed, "as if Alice would be that lame."

"Alright, alright," Mason said before standing up straighter, "now we just need to wait for the other squads to be in position before we charge in. Remember try to stick close to the Falcon, I'll be supporting you and giving you cover, watch out for snipers and I want all snipers to be on the lookout in return, take out the enemy snipers before moving on to the normal infantry," as they nodded. It seemed like a lifetime before the squad got the call to commence the operation as the Falcon revved up and charged towards the slope as the rest of the squad followed close behind. Instantly they fell under attack as bullets pinged off the Falcon as Louise hid behind the tank as bullets ricochet off the tanks.

"This is one tough defence," Alicia commented, "they must be hiding someone, or something, important."

"Then let's keep on pushing," Louise said, "wonder if the 4th squad is on the move."

"If they are then they're taking their sweet time," Adrian said, "maybe they got held up by the enemy? Where's the regular army squad? What are they doing?"

"Calm down," Mason said through the radio, "keep on pushing and eventually we'll reach them. Trust in me," as Louise gave a small smile as they continued to push on as anti-tank units began firing their weapons at the Falcon as Louise aimed at one and took fire as the soldier was sent backwards from the impact of the bullet. As she nodded in self-encouragement before continuing on her way as they were near the end of the slope before the Falcon made it as the rest of the squad cheered as they were close to victory. The Confederacy soldiers then brought out their Angels as they flew high above the sky and attempted to pierce through the soldiers as the new bullets worked their magic. As expected the weapon didn't have much recoil when firing which was a bonus since it was already hard enough to aim at the Angels without the weapons going crazy.

"This is great, now I don't have to worry about shooting any of you guys by accident," Alicia said optimistically as the Angels were soon shot out of the sky.

"Ooh~ so the Angels got shot out huh? That's a pity," a voice said as a red-haired girl of around 15 cartwheeled in front of them.

"Yeah a pity," another voice said as a green-haired girl cartwheeled next to the red-haired girl, "though they're not getting past us right sis?"

"Yep that's right," the red-haired girl said, "I'm Hansel."

"And I'm Gretel," the green-haired girl as both of them then took out long knives as they grinned at the squad.

"And you're all going to die," they both said.

"Who are these freaks?" Robert asked.

"Crap, they're the Deloitte sisters, they're the Confederacy's top-tier assassins," Mason said, "be careful! They may not have guns, but they know enough of the human body to cut you in half."

"Oh great so the Confederacy top aces are coming out huh? Now I'm fired up," Claudia said, "Let's go Louise bet you that I take out one of them before you do."

"Hey wait this is no time for a competition," Louise said as the Deloitte sisters grinned.

"This is gonna be fun," Gretel said as she dashed towards Claudia as the black-haired soldier took aim, but Gretel was too fast for Claudia as she managed to nearly slice Claudia's throat and Claudia evaded death solely because she fell back when she tripped on a stone. "Close call...but not close enough," Gretel said as she tried to stab Claudia but was blocked by her arm.

"Haha...I might not look like it, but I'm a pretty decent when it comes to close quarter combat," Claudia said as she kicked Gretel away before jumping up as she took a combat stance, "come on then...let's see what the Confederacy's ace can do."

Meanwhile the other squad were busy engaging Hansel as she seemed to have an infinite amount of knives with her as she threw a storm of them at the squad forcing them to hide behind the Falcon. Of course even with the Falcon's machine gun she was able to dance her way out of it as she laughed continuously, "Damn it this girl's like a damn ghost, we can't hit her at all," Alicia said.

"At this rate we're just wasting ammo," Robert said, "and more reinforcements are coming," as while the squad was distracted more reinforcements were coming into aid the Deloitte sisters. At this rate they would be overwhelmed by the enemy as Louise gritted her teeth, Claudia wasn't doing so well either since although she might be decent in fighting without a gun, Gretel still outmatched her as she was knocked off her feet.

"Damn it, damn it where are the other squads?" Adrian exclaimed.

"They're being pinned down by enemy fire, 4th squad is taking it pretty hard as well," Amanda said as an explosion echoed over the radio as in the distance a similar explosion occurred. "We're unable to penetrate further and...and we're close to breaking."

"Hehe...looks like you lose," Hansel mocked as Louise was even more frustrated, this could not end like this, she made a vow to herself that she would rescue Eleanor. She was not going to fail that mission as she saw no other alternatives other then to use the one thing she thought she would never use again as she looked at Alexander as he looked at her before looking at her quizzingly.

"Alexander I'm going to use that right now, where do you think I can hide?" Louise whispered.

"You mean-" Alexander began.

"Yes," Louise cut in before he could give it away.

"A-are you sure? I mean...you said you couldn't use it back home."

"Well if I use my trademark explosions I'm sure I'll be capable of that much, after all I do it anyways whenever I tried to use it," Louise said with a shrug as Alexander nodded.

"Alright I trust you," Alexander said as the two of them quietly went to another part of the area where there weren't a lot of people, it also hid Louise because there were trees there, "can you do it?" he asked once they got there.

"I have to try, I'm Louise Valliere, Heroine of Barton and it would be an embarrassment to my name if I can't save the President's daughter," Louise said with a smile as Alexander smiled back. She then took out her wand, she had kept her wand with her this entire time as it reminded her of what she once was and...and perhaps she wished that she would be able to use her magic for good and it seemed the time had come now. She closed her eyes and concentrated, this time not on the simple magic that she failed to do, but a simple magic that would cause explosions as she felt power going through her arm and to her wand. She then opened her eyes as she pointed to the ground as it then exploded sending Hansel backwards as she looked at them in confusion as the others were also bewildered. "It worked! It worked!" Louise exclaimed happily, she never had a spell work properly for her before so for something like this to happen it was a dream come true for her, as she hugged Alexander.

"Haha yes that's all well and good, but let's concentrate on the enemy okay?" Alexander remarked as Louise blushed before she then concentrated and then sent another explosion to a group of soldiers as they were blasted off their feet.

"Huh? W-what's this? Where's the explosion coming from?" Hansel asked confusingly as the soldiers had no idea what was attacking them as their comrades were being blown up left and right. "H-huh? Is this a new weapon? No one told me about this!" as Hansel was then blown backwards as Louise continued to send explosions towards the Confederacy as they were eventually thrown into complete disarray.

"R-retreat! Retreat!" a soldier shouted as the troops retreated away from the area as they were chased by unknown explosions as Gretel was also thrown backwards from the shockwave as she skidded on the ground.

"Owie...sis what's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know, I don't know! I don't know anything about this!" Hansel said, it seemed that she had lost her composure in the face of the unknown as Gretel had to pull her away from the area.

"We'll be back! You better watch out!" Gretel said as one last explosion sent the Deloitte sisters running as squad 13 looked blankly at the numerous holes marking the ground.

"Ha...ha...ha...I did it...I saved everyone," Louise said panting as she foolishly used too much energy in her spells as her vision was blacking out, "damn...too much...willpower..." as she then collapsed as Alexander caught her.

"Good work Louise," he said softly, "you really are a heroine," as the rest of the squad moved forward as he carried Louise down.

"Alexander! What happened?" Suzie asked as she saw Louise being carried.

"Ah that is...something happened and she collapsed, she's quite alright just exhausted," Alexander said unsure of what to say.

"Eh? She fought off a Confederacy soldier on her own?" Suzie said jumping to conclusions.

"Y-yes, yes that's right!" Alexander said with a chuckle.

"She's really brave," Suzie said with hearts in her eye as she turned into her fangirl mode.

"Well that's all and good," Alicia said, "but she's going to be out for the rest of the mission."

"She can come into the Falcon, there's a small space where she can rest," Mason said as the back of the Falcon opened up as Alexander carried her there, "alright squad move out! How's Claudia?"

"She'll be fine," Robert said as he dressed Claudia's shoulder, which was wounded by a knife stab as the black-haired girl groaned in pain.

"I'll be alright Mason," Claudia said, "let's keep on going."

"Alright, let's complete this mission!" Mason said as the rest of the squad cried out before charging forward.