I'll Be Home For Christmas- Part 1

(Original Story Concept: Limit Break)

Author's Note: Many of you read my epic disaster serial Limit Break. It remains (as I stated earlier) my favorite of all my fan-fictions. When mulling over how best to present the Christmas version of this epic story, I came to three realizations.

First, I knew that it wasn't going to be an in-betweener (like, this is how they celebrated Christmas while stuck). First off, my timeline was too rigid for that plot to pass and secondly I have never liked stories like that.

Second, I knew that it was going to be an entirely different set of events, that are spiritually a sequel, as all of these have been.

Third, I came to the realization that I haven't got 12 unique stories that I can make a Christmas tale out of! (I have deleted three stories: Blitz, Oddball and In The Deep, due to general disinterest or my own realization that they suck. Also, I do not count FF7 Novelization, Final Fantasy Abridged or A Turkish Christmas Party for obvious reasons, and since Abyss is a sequel to The Secret Lives of Turks I count them as one. Also, I decided not to do a parody for Assignment because I already have enough Turk stories and I just started Wanted, so I'm ignoring that too.)

So, to follow in the spirit of the original, there will be three chapters devoted to this story that will be spread out throughout this collection.

---

December 21

Trabia Canyon, 2200 Hours

The Balamb Garden Tactical Strike Force consisted of 12 members under ordinary circumstances. Two squads of six who were trained in covert ops ranging from urban espionage to marine infiltration tactics. Given the special "situation" that had arisen, things were a little different today. The TSF now consisted of 16 members.

Added to the twin squads were some notable people indeed.

Xu, the Balamb Garden Spec Ops. Instructor and noted "mother of Balamb Garden Special Operations", was joining them because of her experience in both the required skills and knowledge of the terrain.

Nida, the former pilot of Balamb Garden, back when it still flew, was coming along mainly because he had asked to go, and he would be a critical part of the operations success.

Irvine Kinneas, head of a special forces sniper team called the Marksmen, was coming along because the mission required the use of a sniper.

Squall Leonhart, the current Garden Master of Balamb Garden and head of all operations concerning SeeD, the mercenary unit dispatched from Balamb Garden, was coming along to supervise the mission.

The briefing they had sat through on the transport summarized what had been about 36 hours of heated debate amongst the leaders of Balamb Garden. They finally had reached a concensus and set up this mission.

Somewhere in the vast city of Esthar, there was a woman who claimed to be a Sorceress.

SeeD's mission was to defeat any Sorceress that posed a threat to mankind, and if this woman was telling the truth, then this would be the first time that they had any need to use their power.

The infiltration method was designed to be so covert that the Sorceress could not detect it, which is hard to do. They had sent five dummy teams of Spec. Ops, SeeD and other elite groups to create a diversion. Some approaching by air, some by sea, and another one by land. Only the TSF had started so far back, and only they had the authorization to kill the Sorceress without provocation.

Xu thought that it had been a dead giveaway to have Squall in their team, but Squall insisted that he be there to defend his support staff. If Xu hadn't been flattered, she would have been offended at his lack of trust.

They stopped at the top of the first set of switchbacks which led up the side of the canyon. The soldiers began to set up their tents; they were going to call it a day.

"We're due to be at the top of this mountain on the morning of the 23rd," Squall said. "Under these conditions we're going to be hard pressed the meet that goal."

The mountain had been in sub-zero temperatures since November and there was currently a hailstorm headed their way. Combine that with 2 feet of snow on the ground, even on the relatively well-maintained switchbacks, and you have a combination from hell.

"So what's the deal with this? We take a shot into Esthar from on top of the mountain?" Irvine asked. "I mean my aim is good, but a 3 mile gap is hard for a bullet to clear."

"The Sorceress will be at the ritual Stone Fields between Esthar and Trabia. She claims that she will be summoning power from the Stones," Squall said.

"If she's a fraud, it'll be a low-level GF, most likely. If she's the real deal, then we'll know it," Xu added.

"How?" Nida asked.

Squall shook his head. "Trust me, when you've dealt with as many Sorceress's as we have, you can just feel it in your bones. There's that gripping sensation of terror, the knowledge deep down in your soul that you're looking into a vessel of malevolent power."

Nida trembled. "I've never seen a Sorceress in action before. The closest I ever got was when we fought Edea all those years ago."

"Well then," Irvine said, patting Nida on the shoulder. "I really hope she is a fraud."

---

The hailstorm came during the night. Even the polar tents that they had packed for the trip were no match for the massive chunks of ice. One fist-sized stone tore a hole in the Commander's Tent, and after reinforcing the hole with spare tarp, Squall made a "friendly recommendation" that the troops sleep with their helmets on.

Squall himself got very little sleep. The mission kept running itself over and over in his mind. All variety of outcome keeping sleep at bay. Suppose the woman was a fraud, and the whole mission was for nothing. Suppose they ended up killing an innocent woman by accident? Or what if she was a true Sorceress? Would Irvine be able to shoot her? He had failed before. The pressure and intensity of the situation had gotten to Irvine and he had failed to shoot in time. When he finally had shot, Edea had created a barrier protecting herself. What if Edea had the barrier from the beginning, though? What if Irvine's bullet simply couldn't penetrate the Sorceress's protection?

Finally, the overwhelming exhaustion of thinking overtook his concerns, and he drifted into a mercilessly dreamless sleep.

---

The morning started off bad. One of the squad's tents had been crushed by falling snow in the night. Miraculously, the crew somehow survived, but their tent was now useless. To make matters worse, the entire mountain was packed in fresh snow and ice, which made the trek up the second set of switchbacks even harder.

Evening came quicker than Squall was expecting, and they were still a mile away from their target, which in these conditions was practically 100. But they could not wait for anything, and so he pushed his troops on to continue marching even when night came. They reached the top of the mountain at about 2:00 AM.

Irvine approached the sniper spot with hesitation. A massive metal structure, which appeared to be an old power station, was covered in snow and ice. He walked over and broke open the frozen door. The high-powered rifle had been grafted into one of the windows, with enough swivel room for Irvine to make an accurate shot.

He could tell that this weapon had the recoil of a cannon, and would probably sound like one too, so either way, they would only be getting one shot at this.

"Can you do it?" Squall asked.

"Assuming the recoil doesn't break my shoulder," Irvine said. "Yeah. I've got enough firepower, and at this angle the bullet should fly okay. I'm gonna need to take a couple of things into consideration. Wind speed and direction, etc."

"Okay then," Squall replied. "Tomorrow morning then. The Sorceress will be at the Stone Fields at approximately 0700, which means you have enough time for 4 hours of sleep. I suggest you get it."

And with that, the TSF prepared themselves for their first ever assassination attempt. Irvine, however, never managed to get to sleep.