A/N: Ok here's chapter 7, I hope i'm still talking to people out there, lol. Guys...my number of reviews...disappointing, I'm gonna finish, but it's kinda discouraging. But on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean


Ch.7: Grief and Compassion

Oct. 30th SD 772, 04:00 hours…Military Garrison on Earth.

"God damn! There are too many!" Kian yelled.

"I know, I know!" John yelled. He jumped from behind the cell wall he was hiding and fired a few rounds at the soldiers. A mass of soldiers had gathered on the detention level, while the group was rescuing the other Marines. There was a huge line of soldiers firing on them, and then another line behind them. They had John and his men pinned down, everyone was attempting to find cover. They would have had them outnumbered...if most of them were armed. But only about 15 out of 300 were armed. The enemies kept firing round after round, after round. They scored a few hits, but nothing major.

Suddenly soldiers on the front broke off and ran to the back. The line behind them stepped up, and then another line behind them stepped up behind them. There was gunfire coming from behind and it seemed like someone new had joined the fray, but who? Everyone else in the Universe was against them. They heard gunfire and a grenade blast within their enemies' ranks. There was smoke and a perfect hole was blown in the enemies' ranks. Three figures could be seen walking amidst the smoke.

"The helll?" Kian asked. The Marines looked just as confused. There was a lot of smoke and they saw a shadow in the dust. The other 2 shadows trained their guns on either side. Then they shot the surviving soldiers, they didn't even know what hit them. The other figure dashed toward them, a woman by the looks of it. She had on a full combat suit on and a blue helmet. Her face was concealed by a yellow visor. She had long blue hair that flowed behind her.

"Come with me if you want to live," her voice said. It was somewhat slurred from behind the mask.

"What the? How can we even trust you?" Kian demanded. Peppita regarded the figure then spoke. Something seemed...familiar...but what?

"Let's trust her, I feel like I know her…her voice is familiar," Peppita said.

"W-What? Cap'n you can't be-," Kian got cut off.

"Alright I trust ya' lil miss Peppita," John said.

"So how we getting' outta here miss?" Kian asked as a blast whirred past him. Kian aimed his rifle and fired back.

"Wait for it…1…2…3…boom," she said simply. And as a matter of fact a huge explosion ripped through the soldiers. "New bombs, can't live without em', let's go!" she said. Her other 2 companions came out of the cover they were hiding in.

The Marines trooped after her as well as the unarmed soldiers. They attempted to salvage weapons from the dead soldiers. Very few were found since the blast nearly tore them all apart.

"So how we escapin'? still a god damn lot of em' up there," Kian asked.

"We have to get to the Living Quarters, level up from here, my men have prepared a ship. We just have to clear the place before they get there," she said. 10 of her companions, outfitted in the same battle gear joined her.

"ETA 5 minuted," her companion said. He seemed to be male, one of the two that came with her.

"No Sophia?" another asked, female this time.

"No, I checked the prison database," the blue-haired woman said sadly.

'Sophia?' Peppita thought.

"Hey are you talking about Sophia Esteed?" Peppita asked.

"Yes…how do you know her?" the other female asked.

" She was my friend, we went out to fight the bad guys, about...a day ago. Sophia beat one of em'…then I dunno, I was unconscious in a pile of rock," Peppita recalled.

"Were you part of the group that defeated Luther?" the male asked.

"Er…yeah," Peppita replied. How did they know about Luther? Normal civilians shoudn't know about him…

"Then…you know…you know Fayt! Where is he, is he safe, did he really kill the President with the Traydor girl? Tell Me!!" the blue haired woman yelled. She shook Peppita violently.

Peppita opened her mouth to speak when they heard a huge explosion above them. An Oso tank, how the hell did they get to fit an Oso down here? No matter, it fired. Everyone scrambled to dodge the blast, but most of the Marines got caught in the blast. They didn't have a chance. It broke through the wall next to the doorway atop the staircase.

John glanced over and saw twitching bodies and lifeless ones. "DAMN!" he yelled. Kian held him back.

"Sir we gotta survive, we gots to!" Kian reasoned. "If we die their lives'll be in vain!" Kian begged. Enemies were crowding down from the stairs again. Too many.

"Damn it!" the blue haired lady swore. She cocked her assault rifle, it had a scope on it. She fired with deadly precision and accuaracy. It seemed her equipment was very high tech. The Oso fired again, no harm this time.

"1…2…3…4…5…5 minutes!" the male yelled. The Oso fired again. It caught more unarmed Marines.

"What are you talking about?" the blue haired lady asked.

"5 minutes, 5 minutes is the reload time!" he exclaimed.

"Of course…hey John!" She yelled.

"What!" he snarled.

"Can you give me cover? I'm going in," she said.

"I dunno what the hell you're gonna do, but what the hell, men give her some cover!" John yelled. He reloaded and waited for the signal.

"I'll go first,"-Peppita said-"I prefer hand-to hand anyways."

"OK," she replied.

"Wait for it…wait for it," the man said. The Oso fired, nearly getting them. "NOW!" he yelled as the blast was over.

Peppita sprang out and ascended up the stairs and began punching and kicking at the soldiers. Her movements were too quick for them, her movements sharpened by the 4D realm. She was tossing soldiers off the staircase left to right.

"2 Minutes!" the man yelled. The blue-haired lady shot at the stragglers that Peppita left behind.

"We'll make it, we have to!" the brown haired lady exclaimed. They scrambled up the stairs, ignoring the fatigue they began to felt. They saw the Oso perched on the ledge. Half of it protruding thorough the wall on one side. The other half protruding on the other side.

Peppita was vicious now, she was brutally smacking the soldiers on the way up. Her body ached, it had received two shots stopped by her armor, but she got clipped on the side, where the armor was thinner. She could feel the wound and it hurt, a lot.

"10 seconds!!" the man yelled.

"HELL!!" John yelled. He ran into the open and began shooting at the Oso the blasts being absorbed by the tank's armor.

"5…4…3…2…1…damn!!" the man yelled. But the gun didn't fire at them, it fired at John. The blast sped toward him, and engulfed him in the yellow blast. When the blast was cleared… there was a smoking piece of slag that replaced him. The ground was also singed. It turned towards Peppita and Co. It hadn't seen them. The gunner was cursing furiously. There were three soldiers left that aimed at them, they shot. Peppita got struck, and the bullet went through her…She gasped a little and felt her pulse...as if time had slowed.

She was thrown backwards. Her companions immediately shot at the enemies, killing them. The brunette stopped to help her and examined the wound. She unclipped a small med kit on her belt and went to work to get the bullet out. "Damn it! If it was a phase shot I'd only have to inject her!" she yelled. The blue haired woman didn't listen. She snapped a bomb onto the Oso's belly. She jumped backwards and detonated it. The tank blew up, taking the soldiers along with them. She smiled grimly to admire her work.

She sighed and examined Peppita, she took her helmet off. She had green eyes, and her face showed a little sign of aging.

"Ryoko, we gotta hurry, the dropship should be there by now, we gotta haul some serious ass! And Peppita needs some serious medical attention!" the woman yelled.

"I know," she said. She gritted her teeth and turned to the Marines still on the detention level. "Kian! We have to go now!"

"Y-yeah, m-men let's go, you guys got the President?" he asked shakily. The few Marines that were left crowded around Kian and slowly nodded. The unarmed men grabbed weapons from the dead as they ascended the stairs.

"Are, are you okay kid?" Ryoko Leingod asked. She grabbed the young man by the arm and looked at him.

"I'm, I'm fine, let's keep moving, we gotta live through this,"-he turned away then stopped-"Oh Miss? That person…Fayt? He dint kill the president, cuz she's alive and kickin'," He walked on, the Marines following him silently.

Ryoko turned around and saw the President walking, supported by two Marines. She smiled weakly at Ryoko before walking on.

"Alright let's go!" she yelled and led them to the ship. Halfway there Ryoko stopped. As soon as they cleared the next flight of stairs they stared down a white hallway, with bright light. Everything was perfectly still and quiet. Their fast breaths could be heard though.

"M'am?" Kian asked.

"It's too quiet," she said softly. Then she heard a gun cock as, men seemed to appear from the walls. " I see the cloaking works," she said softly.

"Yeah, hell it does, what's the password?" the man asked.

"Leingod."

Other soldiers armed similarly to Ryoko, appeared from the wall similarly like the first one.

"Cleared the El-Zee for ya' m'am, lemme tell you it wasn't easy," the soldier said, in a much more relaxed tone.

"Cut the crap soldier, we better load up, we got a lot of men, and besides there are gonna be more coming soon," Ryoko said sternly.

"Y-yes m'am," he stuttered. She walked on to the ship tiredly, Kian behind her. They walked to the end of the hall, with a hole blown in the wall. The hole led into a metallic landing, a ship.

"Bloody Hell woman, You said it was a dropship, not a bloody Combat Explorer!" Kian exclaimed.

"Shut up Kian! Clive I had a hunch that Sophia's been captured by those Nedians," Ryoko said as the man entered. His wife sat down beside him in the loading area. She squeezed his hand tightly.

Kian smirked weakly and walked off, a little depressed, He was no doubt shaken by John's death.

"Yeah I thought so too, good news though, the President's alive, Fayt is innocent," he said sadly.

"Yeah it's good news, I hope Peppita will be alright," she said as another Marine walked in, with the little girl in his arms.

"Bring her to the Medical Wing, ask any soldier you see," Clive replied. The loading door closed and the three peered out the window. The Marine nodded and followed Kian onto the observation deck. The ship's engines powered up and drove them away to the city's outskirts.


Elicoor, October 30th, SD 772; 10:00 hours

Fayt Leingod stirred in his bed and got up. He dragged his feet to the bathroom and showered up and brushed his teeth. When he got out, he saw Cliff, just getting up.

"Yo, how ya feeling?" Cliff asked.

"I'm just gonna walk around the embassy a bit," Fayt said as he threw a new shirt on.

"Alright, just don't leave the embassy alright? Those Greetonians are still lookin' for you guys," he said sternly.

"Just like old times right?" Fayt asked.

"Yep, but don't worry I'll save your scrawny butt as usual if ya' get into trouble," Cliff joked in a much softer tone. Cliff fell back on his bed and instantly fell asleep.

"Yeah, yeah!" he yelled back. He closed the door behind him. He clambered down the grand staircase and saw Maria. This piqued his interest for some reason. He quickened his pace and followed her down the hall. He saw her blue hair whip behind her, and walked to the door she entered. Outside there was a sign, 'Training Room'.

Fayt peered inside and examined the room. On one side a rack of swords were perched. On the other wall were spears, bows, Sais and a gaggle of weapons. On the far wall, was a mirror. The floor was made up of some type of cushioned material, to break a person's fall.

Fayt tiptoed in, to not alert Maria of his presence. She timidly picked a bastard sword from the rack. She weighed it in her arms and found it too heavy. She picked a long sword instead. She felt it again, and found it much lighter. However she put it back. She pulled a katana and slashed the air first. She found it much more favorable.

Maria had liked this one more, because her father used to be a sword-junkie. He also used to practice the old Eastern Japanese style. Using the long curved blade, and simple hilt.

"Thinking of switching weapons?" Fayt asked.

Maria dropped the sword and spun around. She was instantly brought out of her trance. "Fayt! H-How long have you been there?" Maria stammered.

"Oh not too long, need a sparring partner?" Fayt asked, smiling.

"Umm, err, Sure?" Maria stammered, again.

"Well ok, you know what they say, the best way to learn is experience," he said. He brought out his sword and assumed his battle stance. Maria shrugged and held her blade loosely at her side. She had her front leg out, while balancing most of her weight on her back leg. Fayt swung at her and she just whipped the katana quickly to stop the attack.

She smiled, and adjusted her footing, as she tried lunging at him. Fayt only smiled as he sidestepped and threw a side kick at her stomach. She was thrown backward and grunted.

"Ahhhh…I'll git you next time," she said groggily. Someone was clapping in the doorway.

"Nice try fool, but not good enough," said Albel.

"Albel, go to hell," Maria said.

"Love you too maggot, you have to be quick,"-Albel said, then he took out his blade and leapt at Fayt-"Like this!" He unleashed a flurry of strikes at Fayt. Fayt deftly dodged and parried his hits.

"Maria, watch how he doesn't dwell on one move, he uses a move to try to create an opening, while the next strike he pounces," Fayt said. Albel tried again but Fayt blocked again. "Nice try yourself mate, gettin' a little better!" he jested.

"And-Using the katana you focus on speed ya' maggot," Albel said. He had to rely on every piece of his cunning to stop Fayt. Fayt had this unseeable grace. With every strike he grew in power. Every blow made him stronger. If you hit him really hard, he'll throw it back at you. 10-fold. Albel sensed this and found it strange.

In an amazing piece of swordsmanship, Fayt beat Albel. Albel attempted to strike Fayt's neck, but Fayt parried by bringing his blade over his back. Then in a flash he smacked Albel's hand with the flat of his sword. Albel was forced to drop it and held his hands in surrender.

"Checkmate," Fayt said and grinned. So the three went through another hour or so of mindless practice. After about 100 shouts of 'Hold your stance maggot!' or 'I expect more you worm!' they stopped.

"Phew, I'm hungry," Maria sighed.

"Yeah, me too let's get some grub, you comin' Albel?" Fayt asked.

"Bah! I need to keep training," Albel spat.

"Okay pal, we'll see you later then," Fayt said cheerfully. He wanted to piss Albel off.

"I AM NOT YOUR PAL!!" Albel screamed.

"Whatever you say…buddy!" Fayt yelled and he grabbed Maria's hand and ran out before Albel could kill them. Maria blushed as she was pulled out of the room , looking at Fayt's hand. A katana flew out of the room and got stuck in the wall. "Missed us!!" Fayt taunted.

"MAGGOTTT!!" he yelled down the hall. After running a spell or two Fayt stopped, panting.

"F-Fayt, slow down, you're hurting my wrist!" Maria said.

Fayt turned around and looked at his hand, tightly grasping hers. "S-Sorry," he said quickly as his hand shot away from hers. "Er…let's get some lunch," Fayt said. She nodded and they walked to the lunch room.


"CLIFFF!!" Fayt yelled, as he dashed into the room.

"Flyingcows!!" Cliff yelled stupidly. Cliff bolted upright from his bed, with his eyes wide open.

"What? No!! Not time to talk about Cows!!" Fayt exclaimed wildly.

"Uh-sorry, so what's up?" Cliff asked nonchalantly. He fell back on his bed.

"I have to talk to you, man-to-man, this is serious!"

"Alright, I'm listening," Cliff said seriously. He eyed Fayt, very seriously.

"I-uh I kissed Maria," Fayt said. As soon as he finished, Cliff punched him through the wall.

"Oh shit!!" Cliff roared as soon as he realized what he had done.


In the girls' room…

Maria burst into the room crying and flung herself on her bed. Nel walked out of the bathroom at the same time. She just barely leapt back to get out of Maria's way.

"Maria! What's wrong?" Nel asked. She had never seen Maria this vulnerable before. She wasn't one to display her emotions. There was only one possible answer…Fayt.

"I…I…I don't wanna talk about it," she said, through tears. She quickly wiped them away and threw herself on her bed.

"W-Was it Fayt?" Nel asked.

Maria turned over on her side and looked at Nel. "Y-Yeah…he…he kissed me," she said.

"Then why are you crying, shouldn't you be happy?"

"Well…he kinda stopped, and said sorry."

"Well then don't you think that maybe it's cause he thought you didn't like him."

"Why would he think that?"

"Ask yourself the question, I think that you both are just afraid of rejection."

" I uh…hmm Nel you're pretty wise."

"Thank you,"-she paused, and smiled mischeviously-"Did you like it?"

"I didn't hate it," she replied, smiling devilishly.

"Alright, that's the spirit! So…what happened?

"Alright, here's what happened…" Maria squealed, like the teenager she was.


Back in the boys' room….

"Fayt! You okay pal?" Cliff asked.

"I'm fine budddyyy!!" Fayt yelled, drunkenly. His voice resonated from somewhere within the wall. Cliff pried him out of the wall, and gave him a minute to relax.

"So, umm what did you do?" Cliff asked. He sat on his hands, and smiled nervously at Fayt. Fayt, who had a big bruise on his forehead only smiled pleasantly.

"I-Promise not to hit me?" Fayt asked.

"Fine," Cliff asked disappointedly.

"Well you see Maria and I just finished training when we went into the mess hall…" Fayt began to explain.

About an hour earlier…

Maria and Fayt entered the mess hall and found that the Elicoorian food was quite good. The cook had reuben sandwiches and a 'kick ass' lasagna according to some dude eating next to them. Maria got the sandwich, it was nice and greasy…but not too greasy. And the cheese was perfectly melted. It was delicious, the fries weren't bad either.

Fayt got the lasagna…it was bone dry. He put it back and got another sandwich.

"Dumb ass drunk…" Fayt muttered, angrily as he sat down. He looked at the man that recommended the lasagna with a 6 pack of beer on the table.

Maria laughed and Fayt smiled. "Haha, a little grumpy?" she asked.

"Yeah, a little…hey let's have a staring contest!" Fayt exclaimed.

"What! Why?"

"Because, oh I don't know, just come on!!"

"Oh ok, fine," Maria shot back at him. She blinked twice and closed them a third time. She shut them tight and waited a bit.

"1…2…3…now!" Fayt exclaimed and they both opened their eyes.

They stared for only a couple seconds until Maria blinked.

"Haha, I win!!" Fayt exclaimed. He puffed out his chest, to signify his victory.

"Bleh," Maria said. As she stuck her tongue out at him.

'Wow…that was really cute…Arghh…hormones…" Fayt thought as he only laughed at her.

"Maria, how do you pull it off?" Fayt asked.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, and blinked innocently.

"I mean how do you pull off the whole unemotional thing…wait that didn't come out right," Fayt said. He mulled it over then spoke again. "How do you…remain calm in dire situations, but your emotions are clear," he said slowly.

"Oh…"-she said shortly, and looked out the window-"Do you remember that time after the we came back from the Shrine of Kaddan?"

"Umm I think so….refresh my memory."

"When…when I talked to you about my past?"

"Oh yeah, I never told you that I appreciate that you can confide in me."

"Oh don't worry about it, I never thanked you for being a confidant. I've actually never told anyone else about it, except for Cliff and Mirage," she replied.

"Yeah…umm thanks, so you were saying?"

"Er…right! So you see, when I first arrived on the Diplo, I cried non-stop all the time. No matter what anybody said, I just sobbed and sobbed. I always wallowed in my own misery. But I realized that crying, or letting my emotions go haywire, wouldn't solve anything. Besides I knew that my parents wouldn't want me to be an unstable emotional child. And I knew that they wouldn't want me to be sad. And..and I knew that they wouldn't want me crying," she finished, with a smile.

"Wow…I'm really sorry you had to go through something like that…as a kid," Fayt said.

"Hey don't worry about it."

"I want you to know…that you aren't alone anymore. We have the same err…condition. And I want you to know that I'm here for you," he said. He looked at her confidently and grabbed her hand. Fayt looked at her then she suddenly realized that Fayt's face was coming closer to hers. He leaned acoss the table and got closer and closer. Then…magic, her whole body was tingling with sensation. But then…it was gone.

She opened her eyes to see a wide-eyed Fayt. Her face was twisted in confusion and pain when she opened her eyes to look at him. "M-Maria, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!!" he apologized and dashed up the stairs. She was left alone by herself.

"God damn it Fayt, why did you stop?" she muttered silently and wiped the tears that were slowly falling.

Back in the room…

"Ok…touching, really, so why the hell did you stop? It sounds like you were both really into it," Cliff asked.

"I uhh….she didn't like it I could tell…I was into it…she just didn't feel up to it," he said sadly.

"How the hell would you know? Have you ever kissed a girl before?" Cliff asked.

"Yeah, don't you remember Sophia? And I remembered how I felt and I could tell she wasn't into it. And when I pulled away…she had an awful look on her face."

"Maybe she was wondering why you stopped!" Cliff exclaimed.

"Uh..no…its….impossib- OH SHIYYYTTTT!! I gotta go apologize!!" Fayt exclaimed. He grabbed his shoes and made towards the door. He ran into a huge blond blob, Cliff.

"Hold on bud, you gotta give her time to chill, and dude you like broke her heart, just think. You are the last person she wants to see right now, so wait until tomorrow," he said seriously.

"Yeah…you're right, I'll get up early tomorrow morning and bring her flowers and tell her that I am a dumbass…hey wait how do you know so much about shit like this?"

"Err…let's just call it experience, mate," Cliff replied, scratching his head. Fayt looked at him funnily then made towards the bathroom.

"Alright, be all mysterious,"-he said and waved his hands mystically-" I'm gonna take a shower."

"That''s right, just...get some time to cool down," he said. Fayt grunted in response and slammed the door behind him.


October 31st, 02:00 hours; SD 772. Outside The Greetonian City

"Damn primitive planet," a soldier in golden armor grunted as he walked along the dirt path.

"Shut up, we have orders!" another man yelled. He wore green heavt armor and wielded a long spear, double bladed on either side.

"Y-Yes Lord Jyril!" the soldier replied.

"HEY! You don't answer to him! You answer to me damn it!" another man yelled. He had a long rifle on his back and wore brass knuckles. Funny, an offworlder would wear brass knuckles...

"Y-Yes Cap'n Stern!" the beleaguered soldier yelled in reply.

Jyril walked toward Stern and looked him straight in the face. Both equal in height, about 6' 3''. The whole troop looked on in amusement at their two COs.

"Got a problem with me Stern?" Jyril asked.

"Yes, you are bossing my troop around, when I am still in command!!" he yelled at him. He was growing red.

Jyril looked at him calmly,"Better keep quiet, you'll wake the townspeople," he said cockily.

"Bah! Just stay out of my way, and let's just get this damn mission over with, when we hitting the town?"

Jyril looked at his watch, " In about 5 hours, best get some rest fer now," he replied. He sat down by some rock in the forest they were in and then lowered him self to the grounf. He began to snore...quite loudly too.

"You heard him, get some rest boys, alternate shifts, first shift gets 2 hours second gets 2, we get ready by the last hour, now get to it!" he yelled. His soldiers scrambled to work, getting out the sleeping bags and such.


A/N: There we go, like I said more questions! Stick with me to the end and you'll see, I might even write a sequel! R&R!!