Chapter 1 – Battles and Losses

Well here we go! First chapter of my first fan fiction! Yaaaaaay! I'll admit that I'm rather excited and nervous. I really do hope you'll like it!

Moving on! I'd like to introduce you to the girl who's helped me through my writing and will be joining me today with introductions, commentary etc etc. So let me introduce my most awesome OC…Nikki Clyne!

Nikki – "Hey"

"Welcome Nikki! You excited?"

Nikki – (shrugs)

"Well aren't you a ball of excitement?"

Nikki – (glares)

(Sweats) "Anyway! Lets get started with the story! Please enjoy! Hey come on stop looking at me like that!"

The year was Cosmic Era 74. It has been over a year since the second Bloody Valentine War. The peace treaty was signed by both the Zaft Forces and the Earth Alliance, both nations keeping their word that they maintain civilization between themselves. But not everyone was willing to declare the war over, for revenge still lay deep in the heart of men.

A young family strolled along the streets of Orb, enjoying the tranquillity of their neutral home. The couple were silent, basking in the stillness that, just barely two years early, was a ruthless war zone.

Their little girl, who was walking innocently between them, holding her parents hands, was oblivious to the horrors of her parents past. For all she knew, they were going for a fun walk, another typical day of her life. Sudden flashes caught the young toddlers' attention causing her to curiously look upwards. Dozens of lights shone above her, brightening the slowly setting sky and occasionally, loud bangs could be heard in the distance.

She reached up and tugged on her parents' sleeves, pointing to the mysterious flashes that had apparently appeared out of nowhere, her eyes widening with excitement.

"Mamma! Pappa! Look! Fireworks!"

Her parents looked up also and stared at the bright flashes, but they did not share the same enthusiasm as their daughter. It was not a time of year to be celebrating, so they knew that the sight that had their young child excited, was something that filled them with dread. The mother looked over at her husband.

"Dear?"

Her husband gazed sadly and sighed.

"It seems there are people that are still holding grudges from the first war."

The two adults continued to stare above them, wondering if there was someone out there that could prevent another war from spiralling out of control.

There was in fact someone that was fighting for the sake of peace and mankind, a young soldier that had dedicated her life to hunting down terrorists and preventing bloodshed. She had friends and loved ones that stood beside her in these times of conflict, and also ones that she would do anything to protect. She was fearless, more than willing to give her life to maintain peace and give civilians the chance to live their lives to the fullest. Who was she? Where did this soldier come from? Well, that was a question that many people have asked, since she had appeared in the lives of the young war heroes.

Nicole Annabella Clyne was a coordinator born into the world like any other, she had a mother and father that loved her, a sister to play with, and luxury of a mansion full of a child's fantasy treasures; all in all she had the perfect life. But these things don't always last, especially for people like Nikki. When meeting her, you'd immediately admit that she was just a normal teenager, an average girl with an average life. But things are never what they appear to be, because this certain teenager wasn't your everyday girl next door.

No, this is a story about a person…a soldier, that has been through everything, has seen all the horrors of a war. All that she went through had made and moulded her into who she had become, which would answer a lot of questions on people's minds. The majority of people that have met Nikki know that she holds many dark secrets about herself that she only lets a certain few people know, people that she is close to. One of these people is her closest friend Jason Kazahana, a friend that Nikki had known for years, a friend that was at that moment beside her in his own machine, clashing blades with the enemy fleet.

"Oy Nikki! You got a moment? Getting kinda swarmed over here!" Jason complained as he moved the Independence, swinging his blade against the many suits surrounding him.

Nikki just snorted and shot back while fighting in her own machine, the Vengeance. "Well you're just going to have to suffer because I have enough problems over here!"

"Oh come on man, my poor machine has only got two arms!"

Her eyebrow twitched, a sure sign she was getting annoyed. "Would you just shut up and concentrate, keep complaining and you'll get your arse kicked by a bunch of bloody useless Zaku's!"

While the two continued bickering, two other certain people who could hear and see everything going on watched and listened in amusement to the argument between the two coordinators.

"It's amazing they can still argue like that and fight big battles at the same time", Jennifer West said while looking out at the battlefield.

She was the girlfriend of Jason and the best friend of Nikki. She had red hair that fell over her shoulders and bright green eyes that stood out; it was these eyes that had Jason falling for her at first sight.

Beside her, a young man chuckled; his name was Kai Rodgericks. He had reddish brown hair and rare dark brown tips at the ends and soft forest green eyes that could make any girls heart melt. But despite the fact that he was dashingly good-looking, it was his gentle personality and heart of gold that had Nikki falling for him.

Kai at the moment was Nikki's current boyfriend; the two of them were very much in love with the other. But love wasn't always that easy for our Nikki, she suffered a massive heartbreak in the first war when she watched her first love Darren Edwards die before her very eyes, and for a while she thought it would be a while before she would be able to fall in love again…that was until she met Kai.

The two of them met thanks to Jason who knew, judging from Kai's soft personality, he was just the kind of person Nikki needed to recover from her horrific past. Although he was going on a hunch, he was surprised but pleased to see the two of them hit it off and become close friends instantly at first meeting. But how did they feel? Well after the first few days, Nikki admitted Kai was a very nice guy and had been a dear friend to her. But because of what she had been through she refused to admit any feelings she could possibly have for him. Kai on the other hand fell for her instantly from when they first met, but he knew she didn't quite feel the same way so he quietly backed off and patiently waited.

It wasn't even a week later that everything happened for our couple. Nikki had tried so hard to block out the growing affection she felt for Kai, but she knew she couldn't keep herself trapped in the past forever. So she gave in and finally admitted that she was in love with him. Now you probably think its all cliché, they confessed first thing, got together, all that stuff…but it didn't quite work like that, well at least not straight away. Although she knew she loved him, she wasn't too sure how he felt. We all know Kai loved her, but despite his gentle and soft nature he was good at hiding his feelings, so good that Nikki was doubtful that her feelings would ever be returned. But she wasn't the type of girl to back down, after some self resolving (and some prodding and constant badgering from Jenny) she told him by straight out kissing him, letting him know physically how deeply for him she felt. Scared of rejection, she ran back home in tears, thinking that he didn't love her. Oh how wrong she was…after getting over his shock of being kissed, Kai ran after her, begging her to let him explain. She reluctantly let him do so and they went back to the place they previously were when Nikki confessed, and it was in that same place that Kai told her that he loved her also and they shared their first kiss as a couple.

Now almost 3 years later, their love was amongst the strongest and it seemed that nothing could ever tear them apart, but Nikki wasn't having romantic moments with her boyfriend now. No she was in fact losing her temper by the second. Not only did she have enemies coming at her non-stop, but she had her idiot of a fighting partner complaining constantly. And when it comes to Jason, it doesn't take much for her to explode at him.

"Nikki! I'm getting tired, when can we go back?" Jason whined as he lazily kicked away a Zaku.

Nikki gripped the controls, trying to keep her anger in. 'How can I when he's complaining every frigging minute?' "It'll end when it ends now keep fighting and don't get lazy!"

Jason let out an exasperated and frustrated groan, "But it's getting boring!"

Nikki all of a sudden saw a machine coming up behind the Independence unbeknownst to her friend,

"Oh no you don't!" She pulled out her rifle and shot down the machine before it could reach him.

"You see idiot? This is what happens when you don't focus! You let your guard down and I'm the one that ends up saving your pathetic life!"

Jason puffed his cheeks out much like a small child that didn't get what they wanted "Well I'm sorry if it's becoming a useless battle!"

That pushed Nikki's limit, Jason jumped when he heard her enraged yell." WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT'S A USELESS BATTLE? I'M DOING THIS TO PROTECT PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT AND YOU'RE JUST FLOATING AROUND LIKE IT'S A FREAKING BORING VIDEO GAME!"

With the two soldiers arguing, and everything else happening around them, there was one other person that was getting tired of the situation. Lacus Clyne stood next to her boyfriend Kira Yamato on board the Eternal as they watched the scene before them. Lacus had to admit she was getting fed up with these two shouting all the time but knew there wasn't much she could do. She knew how bad Nikki's temper could get, and knew interrupting would only fuel it more. She sighed and sat down in her chair suddenly feeling exhausted. Kira eyed her, worried about his girlfriend. He bent down and gripped her hand softly.

"Are you alright Lacus?" He asked softly.

She smiled at him, bemused at his constant concern for her,

"I'm fine Kira, I just wish I could do something about those two, they're meant to be focusing on the situation at hand but every time they end up fighting…"

Kira couldn't help but chuckle, "Well let's be grateful that they're skilful enough to fight their enemies while they're arguing, any other person probably would've been wiped out from being distracted so much by now"

Lacus was about to say something back when a voice from the side interrupted her. "Ma'am, we have a problem, some sort of security breach!"

Lacus turned their direction with a confused expression. "What do you mean? There's no one attacking the Eternal is there?"

The girl shook her head. "Not us Miss Clyne, the ship next to us! They're not guarded and there are enemy mobile suits all over them! That ship only has limited firearm on it!"

Lacus gasped and Kira stepped forward, briefly taking over. "Bring up a communication channel with them! We have to warn them! HURRY!"

"Yes Sir!"

Meanwhile on the other ship, a crewmember received the message from the Eternal. "Miss West! Mr Rodgericks, I received a message from Eternal, it's apparently an emergency, something about security breach."

Kai stepped forward "Put us through". A screen appeared showing Kira and Lacus wearing distraught expressions.

"Kira, Lacus, what's happening? Why the urgency all of a sudden?" Kai asked.

"You guys need to get out of that ship! You've got the fleet all over you!" Kira yelled.

Kai and Jenny stood there with shocked expressions. "What do you mean? Where?" Just as he said that, the ship shook, obviously under attack.

Kai was shocked. "We received no warning that there was anyone attacking, we thought Nikki and Jason had them all held back!" He shouted.

Kira shook his head "Apparently not, it must be because they're arguing that they managed to let a small army pass them, but that doesn't matter, right now you guys seriously need to get out of there!"

Lacus chose this moment to speak. "You two do your best to escape, ill notify Nikki and Jason as to what's going on, that should stop their fighting."

Kai and Jenny nodded "Fair enough, thank you for warning us, we'll do our best"

Lacus smiled "Stay safe"

The communication was cut off and she turned her attention back to Kira and he looked at her. She nodded and turned to her computer.

Still in the battlefield, Nikki and Jason were oblivious to the danger that was happening to their loved ones. Nikki was shouting at Jason, while at the same time fending off enemy mobile suits. Jason was complaining and just lazily attacking anything that came near him. If the situation weren't so serious, it would've been a comical sight to look at. They were just finishing off some Zaku's and Gouf's when they were distracted by Lacus's voice.

"Nikki, Jason! We need you two down here! It's urgent!"

Nikki stared curiously at her sister. "What? All of a sudden? What's so important and urgent that we need to stop this big battle up here! "

Lacus resisted rolling her eyes at her older sibling. "There's a sudden security breach on the ship that Kai and Jenny are on! The enemy are on them full force!"

Nikki felt her eyes widen, she turned and saw her boyfriend's ship under attack. "NO! Damn it! Jason! Come with me we need to stop them!"

"Right behind you!" Jason responded.

The two flew as fast as they could but before they could get even close to the ship, more of the fleet advanced on them, cutting them off from saving their friends.

Nikki growled "DAMNIT! Get out of my way!"

She sliced through the mobile suits, desperately trying to reach the ship, barely noticing the tears she was shedding. "Please…. no…not Kai as well, I can't…I CAN'T LOSE ANYONE ELSE THAT I LOVE TO THIS DAMNED WAR!

Any machine that flew in front of Nikki to cut her off was immediately shot down or sliced apart, her rage and desperation obvious. She suddenly noticed that Jason wasn't following her. She turned and noticed that he had stopped his machine and was just watching. Frustrated she yelled at him.

"What's the matter with you? Don't you want to save Jenny?" She heard no response. "JASON!"

Letting out an aggravated growl, she turned and continued soaring towards the ship. Then she heard a cry from Lacus.

"NO! Nikki! Get away! Watch out!

Nikki ignored her, despite Lacus's desperate tone and kept flying. She was about to reach the ship when it suddenly exploded in front of her, finally weakened by the brutal gunfire. The brightness of the explosion momentarily blinded Nikki and the impact threw her machine backwards. When she regained control again, she looked back and froze at what she saw. All that was left of the destroyed ship was a fading cloud and little bits of debris, floating around in space.

End of Chapter

Dun Dun! Cliffhanger!

Nikki –" Not really since you blabbed to most people how it turns out."

Ssshhh! There are still some people that might not know!

Nikki – Whatever

(Deflates) Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter anyway! I hope to see reviews! Here is a little squint of the next chapter.

"Sir, they're heading straight for us, none of the ships canons can hit it! It's too fast!"

The Captain was now starting to get scared. "Retreat, turn this ship around, get us out of here!"

But it was too late, the last thing he saw, was black and purple metal glinting at him and glowing blue eyes glaring.