Gundam SEED: Infinite Dreams

Summary: After Shinn fought Kira, he fell unconscious and the Impulse fell down. He was rescued along with Kira. After Shinn decided to stay with the 3 Ships Alliance, ZAFT and Blue Cosmos showed more than they've got before.

Author's note: It is pretty hard for me to write in a condition like this, having an exam almost every day. This story will be updated very slowly, but I'll update as fast as I can, no guarantee. I'll give this story some romance, but I'm trying to make a different ending with additions of OCs here. Ah, some plot twisting also. I forgot the part after Kira was down, so I warped to Athrun fleeing from ZAFT. Beware of OOCs, though I'll make them in characters as much as possible. Some new mechas you might see in here may be too weak or the opposite, so if you have an idea about new mechas, and if you like, please tell me in the reviews, and tell me if you like this story or not. I took some technologies from the fic Gundam SEED: Chaotic Cosmos and The Eden Disaster, so credits to Maderfole. If you don't understand the technologies I use, you could ask me, or see directly into Maderfole's fics. So, without any more babblings, I present to you Gundam SEED: The Infinite Dreams.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Gundam SEED characters and mechas, and Maderfole's techs, I only own the plot and my OCs.

Chapter 1: The Unwanted Meeting

"Die, bastard, die!" Shinn's voice roared through the dark sky as the Impulse swung its beam saber towards the Freedom.

"Ugh!" Kira grumbled as he moved the Freedom backwards. The Freedom did dodge the Impulse's attacks, but the other attacks did some pretty bad damages to the Freedom. However, the Freedom didn't attack back, which made Shinn kept attacking him.

After the long, intense battle, both pilots had worn out. Shinn did his last attempt to destroy the Freedom; he swung his beam saber towards the Freedom. This caught Kira off-guard, since for some seconds they just float there doing nothing. He reacted a bit too late to Shinn's attack. Shinn pulled his beam saber back and stabbed it to the Freedom.

Kira's eyes widened in surprise, while Shinn smiled victoriously. The Impulse's beam saber did hit the Freedom, but little did Shinn know that he missed the cockpit, instead hitting an area between the cockpit and arm joint.

The Freedom fell down freely, while the Impulse just floated there. Inside the cockpit, the computers started to shut down. Kira managed to shut down the Freedom's nuclear reactor in time, but the damages and small explosions around him knocked him unconscious. The Freedom fell into the ocean, exploded and created huge waves to its surroundings.

Shinn still smiled victoriously in his SEED mode, even though the cockpit was starting to get dark. 'I did it, Mayu… I destroyed the Freedom…' Shinn thought for the last time. His world started to get dark also, but not because of his surroundings, and he closed his eyes. He fell unconscious too, and the Impulse followed the Freedom, falling into the ocean, though the Impulse didn't explode like the Freedom.

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Back in ZAFT HQ, Athrun watched as the Freedom fought the Impulse. When the Impulse finally managed to stab the Freedom, he immediately stood up, yelling, "Kiraa!!!" His eyes widened in surprise, he never thought that Kira could be defeated. He's confused now, should he get out there and defect ZAFT once again, or should he stay here with the Chairman to make peace? After a moment of contemplation, he finally decided to take the path that he had taken before; he could no longer stay here with ZAFT. He ran out of his room, going to the hangar.

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Shinn opened his eyes, waking up in a room he isn't familiar with. He closed his eyes again, trying to adjust himself with the light. He tried to get up, but the pain in his back and head forced him to stay down. He finally got himself comfortable with the area, so he opened his eyes again. 'This room looks somehow familiar…' he thought.

He turned his head and saw someone sitting on a bed side-across him. That person is a boy, maybe a bit older than he is, in Shinn's prediction. He was covered by bandages and bruises, the same as Shinn, if not worse. The older boy noticed Shinn's movement, and looked up to his face. "Oh, so you're finally up?" he asked.

Shinn groaned as his reply. "Urgh… W-Where am I? W-Who are you…?" Shinn asked slowly, looking to the figure he's facing. The older boy's expression turned grimmer and somehow neutral expression, though you could see the guilty feeling in his eyes. "I'm Kira… Kira Yamato," he told Shinn.

Shinn felt that he had seen this guy before, but he couldn't remember when. He dug into his mind deeper, and he finally remembered where have he seen this guy, he was the guy from the memorial. Adding the event from before, and the fact that he's now covered in bandages worse than he is, and also that there has been no battle except for him and the Freedom, the reality clicked in his mind. He jerked up, eyes wide looking to the person across him. "You… Don't tell me… Are you the pilot of the Freedom?" Shinn asked.

Kira looked down, his expression now grim. He didn't answer Shinn's question, making him angrier.

Shinn's brows furrowed, and he gritted his teeth. "Why you… Why are you even here?!" Shinn yelled. He wanted to jump from his bed and strangle him right now, but he couldn't. "Don't you have enough already?! You killed my parents, my sister, and even Stellar… All the precious ones to me! What do you want to do now, kill me also?!" Shinn continued his yelling; all the awful memories from the past came flooding his mind.

"I don't even want to kill people…" Kira finally answered, even though his voice was barely a whisper.

Shinn heard this, and said again, "Why yeah… But the fact is, you killed people already! I don't know how much, but hell yeah you killed people already!" His feelings are mixed up now; hatred, anger, sorrow, confusion and the other. His actions are the result of his mixed up feelings now. But to his surprise, the older boy suddenly jerked his head up.

"I don't even want to kill people! Don't you hear me? I've tried my best to stop myself not to kill any more people, but this is a war! I couldn't stop a war without killing anyone, could I? So do you, ZAFT, the Earth alliance and everybody else! I couldn't predict who's the one I'm not going to kill, and who's the one I'm supposed to kill!" Kira replied, his voice shaking with sadness. "And you're not the only one here who has lost your precious ones, alright?!" he continued quietly, almost in the verge of bursting into tears.

Shinn was taken aback by Kira's statement. He first thought that the Freedom's pilot is a very powerful guy, but he's wrong. Rey had told him that the Freedom didn't seem to want to kill people, just giving them enough harm to retreat. Alright, he knew that, but he didn't know that the pilot could be so… Vulnerable? His anger finally resided somehow, and he talked with slightly better tone. "You… Lost them too?" he asked cautiously.

Kira slowly controlled himself again, but still looked like he could break into tears anytime if pushed too far. "I do… But what could I do to bring them back? Nothing, yes? That's why I decided not to kill any more people, because I don't want to give them more sadness than they have right now. But I can't help but to kill people sometimes, those things happen outside my control…" Kira replied.

Shinn thought about this for a moment. Yes, they are facing a war right now, and they have to kill people sometimes, even though they don't want to, in order to survive. 'It's pretty hard not to kill anyone… But then, this guy didn't really want to kill, even fight anyone… Is it true? Could I believe him? Why… What are the reasons that made me kill people?' Shinn thought. He didn't really know what to do now.

"Where am I?" Shinn asked, still deep in his thought.

"You're in the medical rooms of the Archangel, Kisaka found you, but your Gundam is nowhere to be found, he said," Kira explained to him.

"Medical… rooms?" Shinn asked again.

"Yeah, this is a Natural mothership after all, not like ZAFT's Minerva, which is filled with Coordinators… Naturals injure themselves pretty often, and they heal slower than Coordinators… so yeah."

"Are you a Natural, or a Coordinator then?" Shinn asked, curious about this guy in front of him. Kira, his name, has a pretty unique personalities, in Shinn's opinion.

"I'm… a Coordinator. Though why am I in a Natural ship, you don't need to know. And I need to ask you, why do you even fight in the first place? If I… happen to not kill your precious ones, why?" Kira explained to Shinn.

Shinn kept his mouth shut, he didn't know what to answer. Did he join the war just because of the Freedom? And if Kira didn't kill his family, what are his reasons to fight then? Does he fight to protect the ZAFT then? But if it is so, then the EA will have more reasons to fight again. These questions kept unanswered until Kira spoke up again.

"Oh well, if you don't want to tell me, it's okay. I won't force you. But you need to answer this question: Do you intend to stay with ZAFT again? If you want to, I can try and tell the captain to return you back to them," Kira said, leaning against the wall.

"I… don't know. Should I stay with ZAFT, or stay here, I don't know…" Shinn replied.

"Okay, if that's your answer, you should stay here a bit longer, to see what is the war really like, from neutral people's opinion," Kira said, standing up and went out of the room. "You don't need to go, I'll show you a bit later. You need to rest right now, okay?"

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Athrun's mind was filled by a lot of things, from his status in ZAFT, his relationship between Shinn, Kira's safety, Cagalli, the Chairman's intentions, the war, and a lot more. He couldn't think properly now, his instincts told him that he should just go to the hangar right now.

"Hey you! Where are you going?" a soldier shouted when Athrun ran past him. Athrun didn't answer, he didn't need to. He just kept running until he reached the hangar. The soldier rang the alarm of intruder, echoing in all the area of the base. Rey, who's currently off duty, ran out of his room to the soldier's place. "What… Who's the intruder?" he asked.

"The… intruder?" the soldier asked, not sure.

"Yeah, the reason you rang the alarm!"

"Oh, that! That's Athrun Zala, sir!" the soldier answered.

"Athrun? He… Where did he go?"

"To the hangar, sir! He didn't mind my warning, he kept running there, sir!"

'To the hangar?' Rey thought. 'Why is he there… Oh damn.'

"Keep an eye to everyone going to the hangar after this. Do you understand?" Rey asked.

"Yes, sir!" the soldier saluted him as he took of, chasing Athrun to the hangar.

Athrun arrived at the hangar mush faster than he thought. A soldier noticed him, and shouted, "Hey! What do you think you're doing in here?! Get out!" The soldier finished, but Athrun didn't give him a damn. The soldier got annoyed, and he aimed his gun to Athrun. Athrun dodged all of them, and got into the soldier's back. In an instant, the soldier fell down, and Athrun took his gun.

That amount of time is enough for Rey to arrive at the hangar too. He saw Athrun running to the only available machine, the Gouf. He immediately chased Athrun, raining him with bullets.

Athrun saw Rey coming, so he decide to run to the nearest hiding place, and that's the counter for the Gouf. He ducked behind the counter, and shot Rey back. None hit anyone, though. After a brief moment of ricocheting here and there, Athrun managed to enter the Gouf's cockpit. He turned the systems on, thus bringing the Gouf to its feet.

Rey, seeing the Gouf powered up, took the phone next to the door, and told the engineers to close the hangar gates. But he was too late, Athrun slipped out of the gate just in time. Not wanting to let him go, Rey ran again to his own Gundam, the Legend.

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Shinn still laid on his bed, his eyes closed, deep in thought. His meeting with Kira, what Kira'd said had caused some doubts about his reasons to fight. Thinking of it again, he didn't really want to kill people at all… And he probably took other people's family or friends… But the Chairman has trusted him, staying here will only make him a traitor! Maybe he should stay here a bit longer… to prove what Kira had said.

He stirred, couldn't go back to sleep. He then decided to just get up, and went out of his room. He didn't know where to go, so he just followed the corridor. After getting lost here and there for a lot of times, he finally arrived at the bridge. He saw Kira and maybe his friends and the captain, probably discussing something important, if you look them in the faces. Not wanting to disturb them, Shinn turned again, but somehow Kira saw him at the last moment, and so he called him.

"Hey, Shinn, come here please?" Kira called him. All heads in the room turned to him, and he received some uneasy looks from several people. He looked around nervously, and stammered forward. "Uh, yeah? What's the matter, Kira?"

Kira pointed to the radar they're all facing. A blinking spot… no, two blinking spot were chasing each other. Shinn blinked again. "What… are these things?" he asked.

"That's why Kira called you," someone replied for him. Shinn turned to search for the voice, and found it. 'Hey… That's Athha!' Shinn thought, which made him frowned a bit. Cagalli noticed this, and frowned a bit also.

"What, not happy seeing me?"

Shinn turned away, saying, "No… it's not that… Really…" he muttered.

Cagalli was shocked, and Kira too, but slightly less than her. If she remembered correctly, the last time they met, he was about to punch her out, if it wasn't because of the Chairman there. But now, there aren't anyone so important to stop him… and he just stopped right there?! He might be just afraid to Kira, but Kira's not in a better shape than he is now! Something had happened, she thought… But now's not the time to think about that! What are these two things?

Shinn approached Kira, and peeked onto the radar. Shinn observed the radar pretty closely. He scratched the back of is head, trying to think of something. Then it hit him. "Oh yeah! That's a Gundam!" Shinn exclaimed.

"… But to think of it, what's it doing out there, with a single Mobile Suit, without any soldiers?" Shinn asked again.

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Athrun kept his distance off the Legend, but the Legend was approaching him slowly. He didn't want to fight, so he kept dodging him. After some minutes of tag game, the Legend finally managed to hit Athrun. The left arm of the blue Gouf exploded, making Athrun lose control for a second. But being a soldier for years and an experienced one, Athrun quickly controlled the Gouf again. He continued to run away from the Legend, but another shot that hit his right foot made him stop. He shot his beam rifle to the Legend, but it easily dodged the beam. He lashed out his electro-whip to the Legend, but the Legend shot the whip down.

Rey was getting tired of all this. He frowned, then sighed. He opened a comm line to Athrun, and said, "Athrun, can you just stop please? If you do and return to the ZAFT, I'll tell the Chairman to spare you."

"If I wanted to return to ZAFT, I'd stop and turn over from the beginning already… I am not returning there, regardless of what you'll do to me."

Rey sighed again. "Okay, if that's your choice. I'll get you right here then."

Then the Legend released its DRAGOON system. They quickly surrounded Athrun and began shooting beam lasers to him. The damaged Gouf couldn't move very fast, but it still dodged the barrage of lasers.

Athrun cursed as he kept the Gouf dodging the lasers, but to his misfortune, the Gouf got shot again, this time near the cockpit. The explosion made him lash forward and backwards again. Thank God they created seat belts.

When the Legend was about to shoot his own beam rifle, another green laser flashed through and destroyed his beam rifle. Rey was surprised seeing this… he hadn't seen anything near him except for the Gouf. Then one of his screens showed a blinking spot which is moving near him in a pretty quick speed… faster then his Gundam could move. When he was off-guard, another laser hit one of his DRAGOON systems. The source of the beam lasers finally showed up, but the real image of it was very blur… what Rey could tell was that it is a Gundam… a pretty big one, but not much bigger than his.

Athrun was surprised that something actually stopped Rey… he never saw one of that coming. But he thanked his savior, anyone who might that be, who just saved his life. He saw a huge Gundam thrusting towards the Legend, but couldn't get more than just a blinking spot from his radar.

Without any more warning, the unknown Gundam dashed forward, drawing its anti-ship sword and slashed the Legend's right arm. The Legend fell clumsily backwards, certainly Rey hadn't expected this.

Athrun sighed in relief as he saw the Legend trying to counter the unknown Gundam, but to no avail. The damage from the earlier explosion caused him some bleeding wounds, and he felt the dizziness wave coming to him.

Rey cursed and moved the Legend out of the way. But this thing kept on attacking him, and he hated it! He couldn't counter it back, and the worse thing is he keeps on receiving blows! But it didn't seem to blow him up, it's just kind of trying to drive him back. After a few more blows, his damages were more than minor now, he'd lost 4 more of his DRAGOON systems. But he had to get Athrun… and he did his final move before retreating.

The wave of dizziness struck Athrun more than 3 times now, and he needs some rest right now. He was damned tired from all the running away, and yet he had to fight the Legend. He's feeling somehow safe right now… knowing that the unknown Gundam's probably an ally. But then the Legend's beam laser hit him just above the cockpit, totally disabling the main camera. "Uargh!" he yelled in pain as shards from the broken screen hit him. Blood came through his wounds… he's losing not a few amount of blood right now.

His last vision was the Legend backing away, returning to the base and the Gundam caught his Gouf, as he slowly blacked out.

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One of the Archangel's crew has gotten the view of the battle, which was viewed by everyone on the bridge.

After the Legend retreated, Shinn's jaw slightly dropped. "But… that's Rey… and he's usually very hard to beat… and that's a new Gundam!" Shinn exclaimed.

Kira and Cagalli nodded. "I know… but what is that thing that just come by and drove him back?" Cagalli said back.

"Hey, it's kinda heading our way… don't you think so?" Shinn asked again.

"Yeah, it is heading our way… What shall we do, captain?" Kira asked.

"Prepare the ship if it decided to attack… But wait for some more time," Murrue replied.

"Receiving incoming data, ma'am… It's from the unknown Gundam. What to do, cap'n?" one of the crew asked.

"Read what it says, and what it wants."

"Yes ma'am," the crew replied and continued, "Asking permission to enter the Archangel, I bring no harm, I'm not going to attack you either, as the Chief Representative is on board."

"Huh? It knows me?" Cagalli said, a bit confused.

"Then it must be an ORB Gundam… But do you have anything new produced back there in ORB, Cags?" Kira asked.

"Nope, I don't, but I don't know what has that bastard Yuuna did."

"So what now, cap'n?" the crew asked again, not knowing what to do.

Murrue thought for a moment, then said, "Fine then, open the gate, but prepare the soldiers… Just in case."

"Yes ma'am."

"Kira, Cagalli, you should check it out… you too, Shinn," Murrue told the teenagers.

"Yes cap'n."

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The three teenagers arrived at the hangar to see the thing that had saved a ZAFT pilot. The Gundam was pitch black, as dark as the night could get, with wings folded on the back. The black Gundam put the broken Gouf to the floor, and shut itself down. The cockpit opened, and a boy went out. Some crews of the Archangel crowded around the black Gundam as the boy came down; some went to the broken Gouf. The boy wasn't in a pilot suit, just in plain military uniform.

The boy, who had black hair and eyes, saluted Cagalli, Kira, and Shinn. "Sir! Commander Jirou reporting!" the boy said to the three people in front of him, mainly to Cagalli. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I wanted to return the Gouf to you."

"Huh? Why? It's not even ours, it's ZAFT's!" Cagalli exclaimed, a bit dumbfounded.

"Oh? Haven't you found out who's inside the Gouf? He needs some care, since he's wounded… Let me show you," Jirou said as he walked to the broken cockpit and opened it. Kira was the first to catch up with him, stared and said-more like yelled, "Athrun!"

"What? Athrun?!" Cagalli and Shinn said in unison as they ran to Kira.

Athrun was sitting on the pilot seat, blood seeping from his wounds. Kira brought Athrun out, and Cagalli yelled for an immediate help. After the medical team arrived and took care of Athrun, Cagalli, Kira and Shinn went to Jirou again.

"Hey, thanks for the help, Jirou…" Kira didn't finish his sentence, since he doesn't know what his last name is.

"Jirou Asuka, sir, pleased to meet and help you," Jirou replied Kira, bowing.

"Hey, how old are you?" Cagalli asked, curious about this Jirou. He didn't seem to be a lot older than Kira and herself, so…

"Eh? My age? I, uh… am seventeen," Jirou replied, a bit surprised with his Chief Representative's question.

"SEVENTEEN?!" the three of them yelled.

"Uh, yeah… Why?" Jirou asked back.

Cagalli shook her head while Kira drew in some breath and Shinn, jaws dropping.

"You are one year younger than both Kira and me, and you're a commander?" Cagalli asked again, wanting to make sure.

"Well, yeah… Experience talks," Jirou replied with a shrug.

"That's just nuts," Kira finally spoke up. "I'll go with you," Shinn added.

"By the way, what's your last name again?" Kira said, since the name sounded somehow familiar.

"Huh? Asuka, that's my last name."

Shinn's eyes widened in surprise, as Kira too, did the same.

"How come you've got the same last name as Shinn here?" Cagalli asked.

Jirou was shocked by the statement too. He looked at Shinn, then said in a low tone, "Shinn… In the term of, Shinn Asuka?"

"Well yeah!" Shinn exclaimed. "Mind telling me why is your name the same as mine?"

Jirou nodded, somehow reluctantly, and said again, "I'd be happy to, but it's a long way back, so I think you'd get a seat."

"And anyway, is Athrun going to be okay? He's injured pretty badly… shouldn't you leave me and check on him instead?" Jirou asked.

"We'll get to him after you're done… And explain to Athrun too," Cagalli replied.

Author's note: Okay, that's the first chapter, just for the introduction and prologue. Bet you'll all know who's Jirou right now. OCs will be coming from now on… though not very much. But for the main clearance is on the next chapter. Okay, if y'all would be somehow kind enough to give me at least one review, I'd be very grateful. Until then on the next chapter.