"It ends here!"

What were those words suppose to mean, who was this guy? Irvine stared directly at the man holding the oddly shaped gun pointed at him. It was obvious this man didn't come here to play around, he wanted Irvine dead or so it seemed. Why though, why was this man after him? Only more questions that needed answering and Irvine just didn't feel like taking the time to figure them all out at once.

"Is that so?" Irvine said, in a carefree gesture, "That's too bad cause I didn't plan on dying just yet. Too many things I have to do, like kicking your ass."

"Oh, so you are a smart mouth bastard." Xigbar responded, "Great I've finely met someone of my stature, perhaps you can give me your heart once I take your life."

"I'm sorry to say I don't have a heart, a beautiful girl came along one day and stole it from me." he said, "If you want my heart, then you'll have to find her, but I don't intend on letting you if that's what you're after." Irvine replied

"As if I really needed it to begin with. All I want is to take your life, that's what I was ordered to do so you don't interfere." Xigbar said.

"Interfere, inferere in what?" Irvine asked.

"Ha, wouldn't you like to know." Xigbar laughed.

Xigbar then raised his arms in the air crossing his to guns to form an X-shape. On the high cliffs on both sides of them, odd white and purple creatures appeared wielding crossbows. Zidane and Irvine both looked up at the odd creatures that stared back at them. Irvine examined them closely, but figured they weren't heartless. However, the fact that they weren't heartless was actually bad. That meant they were now dealing with another unknown enemy, at least with the heartless Irvine knew how to fight them. Suddenly, one of the creatures shot its crossbow at Irvine but it was blocked as Steiner stepped in it's path and deflected it with his sword. Irvine made note to thank the man later, also noticing Freya approaching them as well.

"They're called nobodies, sniper nobodies to be exact." Xigabr said, "They should take care of your little friends while I'm dealing with you."

Xigbar suddenly launched towards Irvine kicking him back and throwing him several feet away from everyone else. The sniper nobodies then began to launch their assault on the team, trying to divert their attention away from Xigbar and Irvine. The situation had just turned critical, luckily Zidane knew something like this might of happened and prepared for it just in case. He pulled out his two silver daggers and turned to everyone else.

"Freya, Steiner, deal with our friends up on the cliffs and get rid of them. Everyone else, take those injured and head back to the Hilda Grande, don't let anyone on board no matter what." Zidane said, "I'll help Irvine fend off this old man."

The group nodded and all the crew members from the search party headed back to the ship. Both Freya and Steiner choose a cliff and began their decent up to take care of the nobodies, while Zidane chased after Xigbar and Irvine. Freya wasted no effort in climbing the large cliff, as she jumped in the air and brought her lance down on the sniper nobody closest to her. The nobody disappeared within seconds as more started to form around her. The sniper nobodies raised their crossbows and one by one laser arrows came flying towards. With each twist of her hand, the lance deflected each arrow and sent back at the nobodies. One by one the sniper nobodies began to fall as Freya proved to be wasting no effort. Steiner on the other hand was having trouble even getting up the cliff. Slowly he climbed it nearly stumbling and falling to his death with each slip of his foot, and all the while dodging the laser arrows being shot down at him.

"Damn monsters, in the name of my Queen I shall rid you of this..." Steiner yelled, losing his footing and nearly falling yet again.

While Freya and Steiner were busy with the sniper nobodies, Irvine and Zidane were having trouble of their own. This guy was completely unpredictable, changing his movements, speed and attacks every minute. This guy relied more on his instincts then anything else and if those two weren't careful, things could turn out real bad for them. Xigbar switched from pace to pace as he fired off his blue laser arrows trying to hit his target as much as possible. Irvine dodged them as much as he could and returned fire with his shotgun, but the two were getting nowhere. If Zidane could only get in an attack, but he was two busy deflecting the arrows coming his way. Besides Zidane only had close combat weapons and seeing as how this man had two guns, in wouldn't be easy to get near him.

That fact didn't stop Zidane from trying though, seeing an opening and rushing Xigbar from the side. However, Xigbar spotted his attack and dodged it attacking Zidane in the shoulder instead. Zidane jumped back and gripped his left shoulder, the wound open and bleeding. That was a careless move and he should have known that it wasn't going to work. This guy was tough, unlike any other foe he had faced. He was proving to be on the same level as Kuja, but it was too early in the fight to boost him up that far.

"Why are you here, your obviously not after my charming good looks?" Irvine asked, his shotgun pointed directly at Xigbar.

"Charming, as if." Xigbar responded with a laugh, "I told you why I'm here, to take your life and that is all. You must be one hell of an idiot not to understand what I'm saying, or maybe it's the overwhelming threat that I'm posing on you."

"It's your looks that are overwhelming." Irvine replied, "Besides your the dumbass for not figuring out what I really meant. You said you were sent here on orders, orders by whom and to stop me interfering in what."

"Ha, it's really killing you to know isn't it? Ok I'll tell you, I was ordered to kill you so you don't interfere with our plans concerning Rinoa Heartilly." Xigbar said, "By whom, Organization XIII of which I am a member of"

"Rinoa!" Irivine said in shock, "You know where she is, you know were my friends are?"

"Of course, all of your friends." Xigbar said, "But I'm not telling you, cause you're just gonna die anyways."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean die, who are you?" Quistis shouted out, enraged at Xaldin.

"Xaldin, if you really wish to know your killer's name. " Xaldin said with a smirk on his face, "Die, its exactly what it sounds. You're going to die right now, and I'm going to be the one to kill you."

Quistis' eyes widen in shock and at the sight of this unknown man who was after her life. This guy, Xaldin, was no pushover. He managed to make it in the castle and kill many guards, and without the slightest scratch on him. This man was some sort of monster, everything about him made him appear that way. If he wanted to kill her though, she wouldn't let go with giving it her all. Reaching around to the back of her waist, she lifted her shirt slightly and pulled out two whips from under it. She then unwrapped them and slashed the ends into the ground making the floor indent where it was hit.

"Eiko, please take the Queen and get out of here! I will handle the situation here as quickly as possible." Beatrix said, sword still in hand, "Miss. Trepe, please go with them."

"No, it's me he is after not them. If I go with them, then they will not be able to get away without getting hurt. All these people he has killed is because of me, let me repay the favor to him." Quistis responded.

"Very well, Eiko get her out of here." Beatrix said.

"But..." Garnet stopped, as Eiko pushed her along.

As much as both Garnet and Eiko wanted to fight, the situation proved useless for them at the moment. For Eiko, she wanted to beat the crap out of this side-burn freak for causing so much harm to their people. She knew though that if she didn't get Garnet out of there things might get messy and Beatrix would raise hell about it. Garnet was enraged more then anyone, this man had killed her people. He had not just killed the many knights sworn to give their lives for this kingdom, but the innocent civilians that just happened to have got in his path. This man was a mere monster, anyone who would do what he did didn't deserve to live. She wanted to get revenge, but in all her protests it seemed Beatrix and Eiko wouldn't let her.

As Eiko dragged her out of the room, both her and Xaldin's eyes met. Xaldin could see the deep hatred she had for him, and that caused him to smile slightly. Though he had found his target and there was no longer a need to kill anyone else, besides those that got in his way. He let Eiko and Garnet pass him and leave the room, leaving less work for him to do. He still had this other woman and judging by her attitude and look, she wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"I have no intention of killing you, so you might as well leave too." he said to her.

"You say that after killing my people and my knights, you expect me to leave and just let you go freely?" Beatrix yelled at him, "I am head knight under Queen Garnet's rule and it is my responsibility to take down any threat in Alexandria."

Xaldin sighed and shook his head, yet another corpse that stood in his way. This would end quickly though, as he had matters to attend to elsewhere. The two spears that revolved around him stopped on either side and pointed to both girls. The spears then flew at them as Quistis dodged one and Beatrix deflected the other with her sword. Quistis took her whip and lashed it at Xaldin, but a spear formed in his hand and he was able to block it. The whip however wrapped around the spear and she used it to pull it out of his hand. Grabbing the spear from her whip, Quistis thought she had the upper hand, but the spear dissolved and appeared back in Xaldin's hand.

"There is no way to resist me, for this is what despair looks like." Xaldin muttered.

"Screw despair, I never worried about that anyways." Quistis said, as both her and Beatrix charged at Xaldin.