Days Of Ruin12…Never Ending

I do not own Advance Wars or any of the series…if I did…I would limit the amount of times Rigs and APCs could resupply.

The darkness was lifting around the area around the besieged city. The night was receding and the morning light brightened up the gray clouds above. The voices of soldiers reporting could be heard on the outskirts of the city.

In the city outskirts were numerous tents, various medical personnel were darting in and out of the many tents. Some personnel carried in medical kits and saline packs and the exiting personnel were disposing blood-stained gauze strips, some of the strips were dark and crusted while a few were soaked with fresh blood. An orange-haired woman had her back to the city as she observed the medical team at work.

"Commander Tasha! All of the able-bodied men are back!" One of the Lazurian soldiers reported to their leader. Trailing behind the man were several soldiers bearing the crest of the Lazurian army.

Tasha turned to face the men that have returned. "How was the evacuation, any losses?" In the center of her sights was the reporting soldier.

"No losses ma'am! We thoroughly combed through the city and encountered no people, civilians and raiders alike!" The soldier quickly finished his report and returned to the men behind him. After the soldier joined with the men they all headed to some empty tents to get their rest.

Tasha turned back to continue her supervision of the medics. 'Where's Gage? I'm tired of just standing here and watching my men die. I should've gone with the recon team.' On the outside Tasha looked like her usual self, her usual frown on her face. Inside, she was bored and annoyed that Gage wasn't there to supervise.

A blue haired man walked up to his commander, his rifle was in his hand. His stoic expression hid any traces of emotion.

"Gage reporting!"

"Where were you? I was stuck with this boring job while you had fun killing bandits in the city!" Tasha's complaint was full of irritation.

"As a soldier, it is my duty to be on the front lines, and it is your duty to stay alive and lead the soldiers."

"But!" Her resolve on joining the recon team was weakening. She knew Gage was right, she was in charge and Gage would never take command without another CO to convince him.

"Fine, just tell me what happened, no need for formalities. Lets talk elsewhere." Both Tasha and Gage headed into an empty tent to talk about their status.

Inside the tent lies a table at the center, on the table lays some pencils and a map of the area.

"Though the city may be safe, the surrounding area may still harbor some bandits. I suggest we gather up the damaged units and form new ones." Gage was pointing to various forests on the map to get his point across.

"If we're just scouting the outskirts can I join? I'm tired of just supervising, they wont need me for a good number of hours, right?" She was itching to kill some raiders, her voice was eager.

Gage, knowing that Tasha would just bombard him with questions if he denied her, conceded. "Alright, but I'll get three men to guard you."

"Yes! I'll order the recon unit to guard the injured!" Tasha quickly left the tent to give the men their orders and to get herself ready.

'Bandits…hmm…' Gage remembered the bandit reinforcements.

'They should still be nearby…' He loaded one bullet into the chamber of the sniper rifle.

'The life of a soldier is never pleasant…' He walked out of the tent with his loaded rifle.

The group of five scouts began their scouting run. Gage, Tasha, and three soldiers began scouting out the outskirts of the city.

Zene had never been a heavy sleeper ever since the meteors fell; he awoke an hour before sunrise every day. On. The. Dot.

He felt something from keeping him from sitting up, he felt the thing that was keeping him, and it was soft, unlike the hard steel he had slept on. He felt something feathery on his face; he rubbed his eyes and took a clear look at what held him…held him?

He saw what was holding…err…hugging him. It was Tabitha, she was in his spare shirt and had her arms wrapped around his chest. He started to go red as his eyes took in the sight in front of him. He had a word he was struggling to find, 'Beautiful…' That was the word he was looking for. Her hair was long and flowing, not tied back in her usual style. He saw her unblemished skin and her sleeping face, heard her soft breaths, felt her soft arms around his chest, …and felt her rhythmic heartbeats.

He started to slowly lift her arm off his chest. 'Carefully…slowly…don't wake her…'

Tabitha's breathing became slightly faster, her face started to show signs of fear. She let out faint words. "…no…don't leave me…please…"

Zene stopped immediately, his embarrassment now replaced with worry. He brought her arm back on his chest and brought one arm over her. He hesitated, but he placed his hand on her head, feeling the silky strands of hair with his fingers. He unknowingly began stroking her hair. When he noticed this, he was about to stop until noticing that she had moved her head closer to his, her breathing was calmer and her face peaceful.

'Preparing can wait…I'll protect her…even in her dreams…' He laid his back down again and continued to stroke her hair.

The guardian and maiden both lay inside of their metal home. The guardian was doing his duty, protecting the maiden, even in her dreams. And the maiden was sleeping peacefully while hugging the guardian. Both were enjoying each other's company, showing their happiness with various actions, ranging from stroking one's hair to hugging one's body.

Tabitha began to stir about an hour later, and as she began to stir she felt the sensation on top of her head and slowly opened her eyes.

It took her a while for her mind to register what was happening.

"Ze…Zene?" She noticed his hand stroking her head.

"Yeah?"

"I…I'm awake now…" Tabitha tried to put on a serious expression but she was failing.

"Oh, sorry" Zene removed his hand.

Tabitha felt disappointed when he removed his hand, she mentally kicked herself for ruining the mood.

"Lets go outside for some morning air, sound good?" Zene started heading up to exit from the turret hatch.

"Sure, just let me change first."

Tabitha exited the tank, she saw Zene stretching out on the rear of the tank.

"Good spot" She said this while climbing down to stretch with him.

They were still stretching. "Hey Tabitha?"

"Yes?"

"We should refuel this thing and take what we need from the trucks."

"That's going to take a while, we don't have a factory nearby."

"How long is it gonna take?"

"A little more than an hour, give or take a few minutes."

"I'll help you after I'm done taking care of things."

When they finished stretching Tabitha left for the fuel truck and Zene left for the empty rig.

Tabitha was busying herself with filling gas cans to bring to the tank.

Zene was going to the rig to fetch his raider flag. After retrieving the flag he went to the tank and saw Tabitha fueling up the tank, she saw the flag and looked at him.

"Whats with the flag? I'm sure you don't need it anymore."

Zene tied the flag to the ladder before speaking. "It was my first gift from my men after the meteors struck. I don't want to ever forget them so I'll be taking this with me."

"I'm fine with that. If you know how to fill a car then you should do this for me." She pointed to the gas cans and then to the fuel truck. She climbed down the ladder and walked up to Zene.

"I'll be removing the shards of metal still embedded in the front, and I'll be checking the barrels for damage." She headed to the front of the tank.

Zene began one of the numerous trips to fuel the tank; he didn't have any larger fuel cans so he was forced to make do with the smaller ones.

Tabitha began the task of removing the embedded shards of metal from the front plates of the tank. She also had to clean out the barrels of the cannons to clear the debris of the blast she had created.

The two of them worked on their tasks, they took an occasional breather next to the water truck and then resumed their work.

There they worked, the tank had its back to the city and supply trucks to its front, it was midday and the sounds of the two floated into the air, unheard by anyone else.

"We have completed scouting the eastern outskirts, Commander Tasha." Gage reported to his leader.

"So we have the northern and western outskirts left." Tasha replied.

"Let us head to the northern outskirts now." Gage points out the route the group was going to take; they would head back into the city and head north after reaching the center.

The scouting group now headed into the city center, their boots crunching into the ground before them.

A/N Ok...i'm back for a bit before i stop until i get my mental gears in shape. I'll upload CH13-18 and probably 19 or 20 to get to a good pause area before taking a breather.