does anyone out there other than jade like this story? if not ill take it down. plz review.

The Assault

I stood by and watched the airship takeoff. Watching it disappear into the horizon. Turning to the other team members I sized each of them up. Zell I knew too well. He had an annoyingly abundant energy supply. His blond hair spiked in every direction, it almost looked like he touched a static generator and then sprayed down his hair with hairspray. He was dressed in his usual blue jeans and tight T-shirt. The black tattoo on the side of his face provided a stark contrast to the rest of his light colored complexion.

Irvine was a little harder to read. The red headed cowboy exuded an aura of such confidence bordering on arrogance. He was dressed in his usual full-length trench coat that stopped about mid-calf. It was open just enough to see his flannel shirt and blue jeans. Hiding the majority of his hair was a well-worn Stetson hat.

Both were good in their respective fields. Irvine was a sharpshooter and Zell was a martial artist. But I had the best of both close and ranged combat, for I was a gunblade specialist. I may not have been as good a shot as Irvine but I was still pretty accurate, and I may not be as strong as Zell but I could hit hard enough to get the job done.

I turned and left the hanger without saying a word to the others. I could tell they were not comfortable with me being in charge but then again they didn't get a choice. Squall had left me in charge of the rescue mission and the others would have to deal with it. I entered the cafeteria, sitting down at one of the tables with a plate of food. This was the first descent meal I had since the sorceress incident. I had almost finished the meal when the others came up and sat down.

"So, when do we need to be ready?" Zell asked beginning to stuff himself with hotdogs.

"We leave in a hour. Try not to be late." I said looking up from my almost empty tray.

"Where are we meeting?" Irvine said wile following a few girls with his eyes.

"Next to the front gates of the garden." I got up and dumped the rest of my tray into the trashcans provided and set the tray on a conveyor belt leading back to the kitchen. I walked around the garden. Nothing had changed really, the computers had been upgraded and the library had gotten bigger, but other than that the place stayed the same. I went to the training center to get a descent workout before we left on our "secretive" mission.

I knew where the best fights were to be had, in the very back of the training center. Sure enough there was a T-rexar standing there looking very hungry. It caught my scent and spun around to face me. I just stood there holding my gunblade to my side, daring it to attack. It roared and charged at me. Wrong thing for it to do, just as it was about to chomp me in half I jumped on top of its head. Twirling around on the back of its head I jammed my gunblade into its skull and pulled the trigger. It let out an ear-shattering screech and fell to the ground with a heavy thud that shook the entire area.

Retrieving my weapon I cleaned it off and made my way back to the room that Squall lent me while I was here. I took a quick shower and got dressed. Looking up at the clock I noted the time. I had ten minutes to get my gear together and get to the front gates of the garden. I made it easily but Zell was a little late this time. Irvine was lounging around like he didn't have a care in the world. We got into the car that Xu had provided for us.

I drove the car to the train station. As soon as we got there another SeeD dressed in plain clothes walked up and handed me an envelope with our tickets in them and walked off. If we were being watched I couldn't tell. I grabbed my bag and headed to the train with the other two following loosely. I quickly opened the door to the room we had gotten. It wasn't nearly as nice as the SeeD room that we usually stayed in but we were trying not to draw attention to ourselves. I laid down on one of the beds while the other two got settled in.

"Do you know who all was in the teams that were captured?" Zell asked no one in particular hoping that Irvine or I knew the answer.

"Yes, I know who was on those teams." I said not moving. "I may no longer be a student at the Garden but I still keep tabs on activities. Most of the group consisted of fresh graduates, but there are two that should interest you two. Quistis and Selphie were the supervising SeeDs."

I watched as Irvine's calm, cool, and collected demeanor faded away at the mention of his Selphie being captured. Trying, in vain, regain his composure he slammed his fist into the bedpost. Zell was truly surprised by Irvine's sudden display of emotion. Slowly I heard Irvine start to cry. I knew they had had a fling but I didn't think they had gotten serious. Irvine was the classic womanizer. Flirting with anything in a skirt. But this I didn't expect, he actually had deep feelings for her.

"She's ok right now but if she remains that way relies on our ability to not draw attention to ourselves and Squalls ability to keep the captors talking long enough for us to get them out." Zell said putting his hand on the cowboys back. Trying to comfort him.

I could tell Irvine was pissed, and I knew the time would come that I would be proud to have him fight by my side, but for the time being we had to keep our emotions bottled up. Yes, even I was emotional on this one. Over the past two years Quistis and I have been going out secretly. That is why I knew who was on the mission. I slowly drifted to sleep thinking about the woman I had gotten to know over the past two years.

I walked up behind the woman I knew, and put my hands over her eyes. Without turning around she said, "hello Siefer." I smiled at how smart she was. Removing my hands from her eyes I placed them gently on her hips. She turned around to face me with a disturbed look on her face. I knew what it meant.

"Where is this one and who is going with you?"

"Galbaldia, Selphie and I are taking some graduates on a rescue mission. Shouldn't be too difficult. I should be back in a day or two."

"When do you have to leave?" I said hoping that she didn't have to go right away.

"We leave in the morning. They think I'm visiting family for the night. I told them I'd meet them at the train station in the morning. I just wanted to be with you right now."

I looked down into her deep blue eyes. She looked at me with love and respect and I knew what she wanted. I was more than happy to oblige her but not standing out on the beach were everyone and their uncle could see. No I wanted this to be a special moment between us so I took her back to the hotel I had in the city. No sooner had we gotten into the room than she attacked me. Not angrily but passionately. We began kissing one another, feeling each other so close yet still separated. That night we shared more than just our bodies we shared our very souls.

I awoke the next morning to an empty bed save for a note and some of the body heat and scent she had left behind. As I read the note I felt tranquility running through my body. It said:


Dear Siefer,

Last night was beyond words for me. I wish I could stay longer but you know that I must go. I will see you when I get back from Galbaldia. Then we can make plans to be together forever. I love you with all I am and always will.

Love,

Quistis, Trepe

XOXOXO

I let out a deep sigh. I had things I needed to do. I went down to the local jewelry shop and looked at engagement rings. The shop owner was reluctant to show me at first remembering my relationship with the sorceress troubles, but he slowly came around after he saw the look in my eyes. It wasn't one of intimidation or even one of anger. It was a look of pure love. He could tell this was a ring I wanted to present someone not steel. I had been saving some money to try and get away from Balamb but I decided she was worth more than getting away. I bought a simple yet elegant ring. It had a 1-½ karat marquis cut diamond in a claw setting with a brushed gold band.

I waited for her to come back and about the middle of the second day I knew something had gone wrong. So I went to the train station to get some information. That's when I met Squall and the others.

The conductor announcing that our destination was coming up startled me awake. I looked over to see Zell practicing his form and Irvine was laying on the bed no doubt thinking about Selphie.

The train stopped and I quickly left the train station and made my way outside of town. It was almost dusk and I knew the monsters would be out in force but I didn't care. Zell and Irvine caught up to me but by that time I was already fighting my way through my third monster. I was pissed all the emotions that I had bottled up over the past forty-eight hour came out through my gunblade. They weren't sliced in half or even slashed. They were chopped into pieces on the ground. I wasn't even breathing hard and there lay three monsters in pieces. Zell and Irvine saw the scene and just stared at the scene.

"Ok, I can understand why Irvine would have done that but why are you so pissed?" Zell said not looking at me.

"I have someone that I care about in that group and I intend to get her out and make the captors pay." I said with a huff.

I continued walking towards the desert prison. I knew that was the only place they could keep military prisoners safely. My time as the sorceress' knight I had learned of several "secret" passages. We stopped to make camp at first light. We disguised the lean-tos with sand so we couldn't be spotted as easily. The other two slept as I took first watch. Thoughts of her flew through my head. The things they might be doing to her. I grew angrier and angrier. I grabbed my gunblade and went out to relieve my stress. I didn't have to wait long for some monsters to appear.

"This isn't your day. You chose the wrong guy to show up to." I said to the monsters. They just roared in response. One tried to hit me with its claws but I dodged it and cut its hands off. I charged the other monster and struck it while pulling the trigger of my gunblade and blew a hole through it big enough to fit my entire body easily. The one that had attacked earlier tried casting a spell but it wasn't very powerful. I jumped into the air and drove my gunblade into its body and pulled the trigger. Its body split in half and it died in pain.

I was breathing heavily and realized that it was time for someone else to take the watch so I headed back to the lean-tos. I woke up Zell and told him it was his turn to take watch. He begrudgingly got up and took watch. I laid down and went to sleep. My dreams were filled with images of the good times Quistis and I had together. When I woke up the sun was just setting.

"I wonder how Rinoa and Squall are doing?" Irvine said, as he packed the rest of our gear.

"I hope they are doing better than we are." Zell said.

"Come on the prison is just over that ridge. Lets get going. We probably won't rest again till we are back at the garden."

With that the others hurried to break camp. They knew there was no turning back now. I left a few things behind and committed the location to memory. We left for the prison. I made sure my gunblade was fully loaded and was sharp enough to do the job. Finally satisfied that the blade was sharp enough I strapped it to my side.

Before us stood the desert prison for military prisoners, I remember the last time I was here Squall and the others were prisoners. I quickly led them to the secret entrance into the prison. From here on we used hand signals to communicate. As we walked down the darkening passageway the scent of mold and mildew hit our senses like a ton of bricks. Cool air from air conditioners mixed with warm outside air.

We came to a dead end and the others gave me a questioning look. I hit a hidden release and a monitor dropped out of the ceiling. Checking the security status, and alert level as well as the hidden camera watching the hallway in front of the hidden door. I signaled that there were three guards standing the other side of the door. Zell nodded in understanding and cracked his knuckles. Irvine cracked an evil smile as he screwed a custom silencer on the end of his gun. I like the way he thinks.

I started to count down on my hand to let them know when I was opening the door. As soon as the count hit zero I hit the release, the door disappeared into the ceiling. The guards didn't have time to react before Zell jumped out of the passageway and knocked out the closest guard before he could make a sound. All of the frustration and pain he had he took out on the guard. I took the second closest guard. I swung around and hit the guard at the base of his neck using the backside of my gunblade. Irvine took the farthest and shot him with a modified tranquilizer dart.

We quickly got the unconscious trio into the passageway and closed the door. Putting on their uniforms, so we could walk around freely, we tied them up and gagged them. Just in case they woke up before we got out of there. The uniforms weren't all that special. It consisted of a blue jump suit with shined metal armor over the top with a helmet that covered the top half of the head. I walked over to check the monitor again. No one had seen or reported the disappearance of the three guards.

I motioned towards the door and the others acknowledged. I hit the release again and stepped out into the hall like I owned the place. The others followed suit, taking up positions just behind and to the sides of me. We closed the passageway and walked down a few passageways occasionally running into another patrol that would salute me. I looked down at the rank insignia on my uniform. It was that of a high-ranking officer. I didn't notice whom it was we were capturing. We walked to the control room. Looking inside I noted that there was only one man inside. I relayed this information and told them to follow my lead.

I opened the door and walked up behind the operator.

"Can I help you sir?" he said noting my presence.

"Just checking to see how things are going. Anything to report?" I said trying to disguise my voice.

"No, sir the prisoners are secure no riots have been reported and no attempt has been made by the enemy to infiltrate the base, sir." He said officially. At this point he dropped his voice and said, "It's a pity about the prisoners though."

"How's that?"

"After the general gets what he wants they are to be executed."

His words hit me harder than any weapon could have. 'They were going to kill Quistis?' with that I turned around and started to walk out trying to control the emotions threatening to break through. Zell an Irvine quickly moved out of my way and followed me also trying to control their emotions. We walked calmly around the corner. As soon as we were out of sight I went into an all out sprint. The others followed suit as if they had the same idea. During the time in the command center I had located the cell they were keeping the SeeDs in.

Stopping around the corner from the cell I straightened the uniform he was wearing and slowed my breathing. Zell and Irvine did the same. Quickly checking my weapon I stepped around the corner.

Two guards stood on either side of the door. I saluted them.

"We are here to check on the prisoners," I said trying not to betray the emotions trying to surface.

"I'm sorry sir but no one is allowed to see the prisoners. Orders from General Carroway."

With that I turned around and signaled to Zell and Irvine that this was going to get ugly. Turning back to face the guards, I took out my gunblade and slashed one across the chest and hit another one with a fira spell. Zell not missing a beat started using one of the other guards as a punching bag. Taking out all his frustration on the guard. Irvine blew a hole through the last guard before he could do anything.

I opened the door with a pass card I found on one of the guards. The door slid open soundlessly. We dragged the bodies of the guards into the room and quickly shut the door. Letting my eyes adjust to the dim light of the rather large prison cell. Along the walls there was a solid metal bar that held chains and collars. Eight of the collars were occupied. These weren't normal collars though. They had a sleep effect to them. Anyone who wore the collar would fall asleep until the collar was removed.

I quickly studied the bodies and found the one I was looking for. I walked over and removed the collar from around the neck of a dusty blond haired woman. Slowly she woke up from the induced sleep. Fluttering open her eyes she made a weak attempt to hit me. I gently blocked her strike and removed my helmet. Her eyes widened in shock.

"What kept you?" she said trying to shake the sleep from her body.

"Traffic," I said with a small smile on my face as I lifted her in my arms.

"I knew you'd come. Where is Squall?" she said looking around to look for the other gunblade user.

"He's in Esthar trying to keep you kidnappers talking."

"We have to get to him. Ok I'm in charge here then. Lets get moving," she said with authority in her voice forgetting I was still holding her.

"Actually Quistis, Squall put Siefer in charge of the rescue and extract missions and last I checked you weren't in the position to be commanding." Zell said smiling from ear to ear at the sight of Quistis trying to be commander when I was holding her almost three feet off the ground in my arms.

"Oh," was all she could say while blushing and burying her face into my shoulder to try and hide the shade of red she was turning.

I set her on her feet, and she straightened her dress. She then saluted me and asked, "Sir, what are your orders?"

"First off don't call me sir and second lets get the hell out of here."

Zell and Irvine checked the door as the others gathered some makeshift weapons. Signaling that it was all clear. I walked over to the other SeeDs.

"Hide your weapons, let them think we are escorting you out. If things get hairy stick close to Zell and Irvine they will make sure you get out ok." I then turned to them and lowered my voice. "No matter what you two make sure the rest of them get out and back to Balamb. Is that clear?" I said my tone dead serious.

They just nodded and checked the door again. I noted that Selphie stayed close to Irvine. I guess it wasn't that odd Quistis stayed close to me but it wasn't quite as noticeable. As we walked I was in front and Zell and Irvine were behind the group. Not many patrols were out and that worried me. 'There should be more patrols than this' I thought. My hand slipped closer to the handle of my gunblade.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Siefer." A voice boomed as we rounded a corner to a full squad of armed soldiers. I motioned for the group to stop.

"I thought this was too easy. So all this was a trap?" I asked my voice calm and collected.

"Not a trap but a backup. We thought Squall would try a rescue attempt but we were surprised when he returned to Esthar. We knew he wouldn't give up on his men so he had to be sending someone. All we had to do was wait." The voice was coming from a older round gentleman in a colonels uniform.

I started smirking as Zell and Irvine came up beside me. "So what now? You know that we won't go quietly and you can't let us go."

"Too true. However you forget I don't care if you live or die. Since they were going to die anyway. Now that you're here you get to share that fate."

"You wish. SeeD!"

With that every one of the SeeD members revealed their hidden weapons as I began casting a firaga spell. I noticed two of the enemy soldiers had already dropped from shots Irvine had made. Quistis was standing next to me also casting a spell. Zell was wailing like a banshee as he charged the line of soldiers. I released my spell and the first row was reduced to a pile of charred bodies. Quistis also released her spell but instead of an offensive spell she had summoned the Brothers. I smiled as the moral of the soldiers fell through the floor at the sight of the Minotaurs wielding war hammers walking toward them.

The last rank of the soldiers turned and ran. Their entire group was too afraid to move. Zell was sending bodies into the air like a catapult and Irvine was shooting them before they hit the ground. The other SeeD were playing cleanup along the outside of the group. I gave a sharp whistle and everyone stopped and looked at me.

"You have lost. We will be going now and don't try to stop us or we will finish what you started."

"I'm not done yet," the colonel said looking at me with his sword in his hand. "If you can defeat me then ill let you go."

"Bring it on. No one is to interfere is that clear?" I said with a loud voice so that not only my men could hear but so could the other soldiers.

He and I squared off. Slowly circling each other observing the others movements, trying to find a weakness. He finally charged at me swinging his sword at my neck. I blocked it easily and kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled back trying not to fall. Coming at me again he tried a series of quick cuts but only finding my gunblade. I could tell he wasn't used to doing any fighting because he was breathing hard and wasn't that good with the sword. He backed away from me clearly out of breath.

"Heh, is that all you have? I would have expected more out of a colonel in the Galbaldian army." I said with a mocking tone.

He just started laughing. Raising his hand a firaga spell instantly leapt from his hand and hit me square in the chest. As the flames engulfed me I couldn't help but laugh. The fool actually thought I could be hurt by fire. I stepped out of the flames invigorated. A look of disbelief was on his face.

"That was my most powerful spell how did you survive it?"

"I'm a fire user, I heal from fire." I said as I sliced off his sword hand.

Screaming from the pain he fell to the floor.

"Do you yield?" I said holding the tip of my gunblade inches from his neck.

"Never, ill never yield to anyone but the general."

"Then you are a fool."

I turned and walked off. The crowd parting as I approached. I heard a maniacal laughter coming from behind me as I turned he was casting a spell at Quistis. I lost it. I suddenly appeared the other side of him. My gunblade held out to my right side. He stopped casting the spell as his head fell off of his shoulders. His body slumped over and that was the end of the colonel.

The rest of the group looked at me in shock. All of the soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. The rest of my group helped our wounded and I led them back out the passageway to the desert. We didn't stop till we got to the train station. Once on the train I sat in a private room I had bought. Looking down the length of my gunblade looking for damage that had occurred. Finding none I put it in its case. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Grunting I got up and opened the door. There stood Quistis. I let her in and quickly closed the door. As soon as I closed the door she kissed me, pinning me to the door.

Finally breaking the kiss I said, "It's good to see you again too."

She giggled and pulled me toward the bed. We laid in each other's arms all night, just enjoying the feeling of being close to each other. Slowly I drifted off to sleep wondering how I had managed to pull off that final move.