Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam seed but I do own storyline idea so no stealing!
Chapter 1: Fate's Destiny
Kira Yamato looked around his empty apartment, he wore semiformal clothing for his trop consisting of black slacks as well as a black t-shirt with the ZAFT insignia on the front with a unbuttoned short sleeved red dress shirt as well as black dress shoes, Undecorated white walls and empty rooms stared back. He had only been living there a year but it had become home, more so than his home back on earth had ever been. Copernicus had been a slight improvement but not by much, with an Earth alliance base just a few moon craters over it made coordinators extremely paranoid.
Despite Orb's claims of accepting both coordinators and naturals as citizens, coordinators were discriminated against by most of the population aside from the military and corporations that dealt with cutting edge technology and development as they recognized and respected their abilities.
But despite these bonuses Orb was not a safe place for a coordinator child to grow up. Jealousy from other children and the special treatment that coordinators got from teachers in school so that their potential wasn't dulled incited resentment in the parents of children and once one was old enough to hold down a job it got even worse, other workers who were passed over for a coordinator sometimes became violent, and then when they inevitably lost to the coordinators superior physical abilities tried to pin the blame on the coordinator.
Kira sighed, it would do no good thinking about his past homes, and he would be leaving this, the most comfortable of them so far. He had enjoyed his time on the Heliopolis colony and had even had to turn down a scholarship offer from the university there because of other plans. Today he would be heading to the PLANTs, Aprilius 1 to be exact. Today he would get to see his best friends face again.
The fourteen almost fifteen year old coordinator was broken from his musing by the sound of his apartment door opening. He had made some friends during his stay here. Sai, the intellectual and geeky one that always had a logical answer no matter the question. Tolle, the comic relief and all around nice guy, if a bit naïve and obsessed with military technology and video games. Miriallia was the kind and sensitive one of the group that wasn't afraid to speak her mind. And then there was Kuzzey, nothing really stood out about him, he was more of a sidekick than anything else with an innate fear of the unknown but he was still a friend.
They had befriended him, though they didn't know that he was a coordinator, although his suspiciously perfect grades might have hinted at his abilities. He had flown through the high school courses which was natural for a coordinator to do considering their mental abilities. In the one year he had been there he had finished his full high school education pushing himself to his limits in an effort to be ready for his main objective, the ZAFT Academy.
His wish to enlist in the ZAFT forces had not actually blown his identity as a coordinator. There were also the occasional naturals with genius intellect or special abilities such as above average special awareness and the like that allowed them to enter, though quite a few dropped out. Those that did enter did so either because of discrimination against their abilities or simply because they felt that naturals were beneath them and their talents could better be used by people that recognized them instead of trying to ignore them or curry favor with them for their extraordinary abilities.
He looked at his friends a small smile one his face as he looked them over. They would be entering their junior year of high school despite their age as they were no slouches and had actually been bumped up to sophomores the year before instead of freshmen.
"So, you're really leaving?" Miriallia was the first to speak, her voice laden with sadness.
Kira smiled sadly at her, "You've all been good friends but, I promised my best friend that I would join him in the PLANTs, and eventually the ZAFT academy. I'll try and come visit you when I get some leave time accumulated after I graduate." He promised even though he knew what with the war going on it would most likely be some time before that happened.
"Well, I can't say I have a reason to ask you not to go. You've known this friend of yours since you were just a kid and you've only known us for a year after all." Sai of course, came up with the most logical explanation as he pushed his orange tinted glasses back up on his nose.
"Just don't forget about us mortals down here." Tolle joked. Tolle was rather fond of video games and sometimes forgot that he himself wasn't in a video game.
Kira chuckled at this while Sai smirked and Miriallia giggled, and Kuzzey as always remained silent. Glancing at his watch he cursed silently. If he were to catch the flight leaving for Aprilius 1 he would have to leave now. There was only a flight from Heliopolis every six months because of the fact that not many people on Heliopolis wanted to go to the PLANTs as Heliopolis was quite isolated already and they were quite content to stay there away from the war.
Picking up his duffel bag and laptop case that had all his worldly possessions, he made a run for the door. Seeing the confused looks on his friends' faces as he approached them he tapped his watched and watched as understanding dawned on them as they scrambled to get out of the way. Luckily he lived on the first floor and the automated taxi that he had sent for earlier was there waiting.
Opening the door to the slate gray topless vehicle he tossed his bags in the passenger seat before sliding in, closing the door and entering his destination in the onboard computer. Sighing as the car finally took off for the space port he relaxed slightly. Starting slightly he ruffled around in his duffel bag before making a noise of affirmation as he pulled out a green ZAFT recruits hat like the one Athrun had worn.
Putting the hat on he spent the remaining ten minutes of the ride in silence fidgeting and constantly checking his watch.
Finally arriving at the outside of the spaceport, which was at the very end of the colony and looked like nothing more than a entrance stuck in the wall of the colony, he grabbed his luggage before making his way inside at a run. As he left the regular colony the artificial gravity lessened and pushed off the slate gray corridor that led to the ship docks speeding himself along. Coming out into the open space he searched for the officer in gray that would be waiting as well as a giant sign with the ZAFT insignia on it waiting outside the shuttle that would take him to the PLANTs.
Spotting the officer but also noticing that he was about to leave he pushed off gaining a speed that was downright suicidal for the environment. He sped across the space port bypassing other umbilical tubes for the other ships as he waved his hat and yelled at the ZAFT officer.
"Wait! Hey! Hold on a minute!" The officer looked up and noticed the hat being waved before grinning. The few people in the space port did not look as enthused as they scowled and attempted to get out of the way of the human missile that was screaming by them.
Kira, finally noticing his extremely high velocity, for a unaided human being that is, panicked and instinctively began flapping his hands like a bird would its wings as he came ever closer to slamming into the ZAFT officer waiting for him. The officer merely moved to the side and brought out a hand and grabbing him staying in one place through the use of centrifugal force to spin him around so they were back in the position they were in before he caught Kira, but with now quite a bit less force allowing Kira to bring himself to a stop by grabbing the edge of the short umbilical to the shuttle.
"Thanks, I was in such a hurry to make the flight I forgot that I would need to slow down!" Kira grinned sheepishly at the man who let out a belly laugh at the youths' predicament.
"No worries son, it's better than some of the people I've seen come aboard this shuttle. All prim, proper and so arrogant their head fills up the entire shuttle all by itself." Both he and Kira chuckled at the thought of a shuttle full of people with extremely large heads fighting for space.
"Well, you got here just in time as we were just about ready to leave. So as soon as you hand over your identification for verification we can get going." Kira pulled a green card with the ZAFT emblem on it and handed it to the ZAFT officer who he looked over in detail while waiting for him to confirm his ID with the shuttles passenger list.
The man looked to be in his in early thirties with black hair and a skin tone that showed him to be of Mediterranean lineage, though if that were true or not was debatable as he was a coordinator. A rugged but friendly face looked back at him as the officer turned back around from the small computer terminal to the side of the umbilical tube that led to the shuttle.
"Well, everything checks out, welcome aboard sonny. My names Aroxerus Benaro, but call me Aro, there's already enough stiffs in the military as it is." Kira grinned at the man's laid back attitude.
"Thanks, my name's Kira Yamato, nice to meet you." Kira introduced himself eve though it was more than likely the ZAFT officer already knew his name from the ID card most likely but figured it wouldn't hurt to be polite.
"Well Kira, let's get you situated, you've got a long flight ahead of you." Aro told him before leading him into the shuttle.
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The flight was indeed long, almost ten hours. With nothing better to do he talked with the Colonel, for that was his rank, about random things to pass the time. He found out that Aro was going to undergo advanced command training once they returned to the PLANTs to prepare him for becoming a ships captain. The ZAFT command structure confused Kira, and stated as such to Aro who explained it to him.
"Well, there's a lot that goes on in a ship. A single person, not even coordinator can keep everyone in line as well as tend to his duties so we've divided it into two distinctively different chains of command. First we've got the Mobile Suit Corp. with its commander which is usually identified by a white uniform; they are usually in overall command and have direct control of the Mobile suit team." Aro paused for a breath at this point.
"There are also two ranks of pilots; first there are the elites, or reds as they're called, they get precedence when new equipment comes in and leave time and such. Then there are the regulars, or greens, they usually get the older equipment and suits and get the leftovers of what ever the elites leave them after they've had their pick and are usually ordered around by them as well. There is one other type of pilot as well." Aro paused, looking to be deep in thought.
"These pilots are not a rank per se; these pilots are what could be called the elite of the elite. These pilots get absolute first pick of new equipment and mobile suits, within reason of course, as well as being allowed to modify their suits almost any way they want and also being allowed to design their own flight suit to give them distinction and help them stand out from other pilots." Aro took a drink of water from a bottle that he had with him to soothe his dry throat from all his talking.
"Lastly, and much more simple as well, we've got the ships crew. All crew but the officers wear standard green and white ZAFT uniforms while the command crew such as the Captain and the SiC(1) and such wear purple or grey uniforms like the one I'm wearing." Here he conspicuously picked at his grey uniform with small spots of purple trimming on it.
After this explanation the conversation eventually petered out and Aro floated off to the cockpit of the shuttle while Kira took a much needed nap for the rest of the trip. Kira was woken from his nap by the shudder of the ship slowing down as it prepared to make its final approach to the Aprilius 1 spaceport.
Looking out his window he caught sight of the magnificent construct, its superstructure glinting in the sun as it glowed golden under its rays. Kira gasped slightly in awe at the sight of the golden dyed PLANT.
"It's an awe inspiring sight isn't it?" Kira jumped slightly, or at least as much as one could in a weightless environment.
"Whenever I forget what I'm fighting for or get discouraged I look at a picture of this scene that I keep in my quarters framed on the wall, it helps to remind why and what I'm fighting for." Aro looked out at the PLANT with respect in his eyes before Kira turned to him.
"Can I have one? A picture of this I mean, I think it might help me to remember as well what I'm fighting for. The PLANTs are my home now, I may have lived other places but this is where my home is." Kira said, his eyes laced with the determination of one who's finally made an important decision.
"Well sure, but why don't you consider any other place your home? I mean you are an Orb national right? Wouldn't that be your home?" In reply all Aro got was a derisive snort.
"Ha! Orb was never my home, the government may try and spout all their well meaning intentions to the public but people still find ways to get around it. In Orb most of the people discriminate against coordinators for whatever reasons yet also try and take advantage of their abilities, outside of the military that is, they're about the only group of people in Orb with an honor left." Aro settled into a seat next to Kira from where he had been floating, stunned, everyone in the PLANTs always saw Orb as some sort small piece of what a perfect world would be with coordinators and naturals living side by side peacefully. One part of Kira's statement caught his attention as well.
"What do you mean that they also try and take advantage of your abilities?" He questioned curious and confused.
"In school, most natural students hate coordinator students but if they need help with something they go to them and the coordinator usually ends up doing all the work otherwise the natural student will report to a teacher that a coordinator student is acting superior and he would be reprimanded." Aro was shocked, many coordinators in the PLANTs had always been told that if they ever wanted to live on the Earth then Orb was almost as good as the PLANTs when it came to their attitude towards coordinators. To think there was such animosity and jealousy even in Orb was astounding to the middle aged officer.
"Even my own family took advantage of me, the only one who ever treated my like I was actually their offspring was my mother, my father usually wanted nothing to do with me, except for a couple incidents. One of which was when I had reprogrammed one of my war simulator games to be more realistic as the mobile suit controls weren't even close to being realistic. He doesn't think I know but one night I couldn't sleep and had gotten up thinking to maybe tire myself out enough so I could sleep by playing one of my games." Kira paused for breath, momentarily stopping his tale of treachery by his own father.
"He went and copied the entire file, he doesn't think I know but I do. There were also other small incidents, nothing as serious as that was though. After that I requested that I be able to attend Lunar Prep. School, where I met Athrun Zala, my best friend." Aro's eyes promptly bugged out at the name as he choked on air.
"A-athrun Zala!?!" Kira looked at him confused.
"Yea, that was his name, I think he's the son of one of the PLANT Supreme Council members why?" Kira was extremely confused, why was Aro so surprised that he was friends with the son of a Supreme council member, he was sure that the council member's children probably had a lot of other friends as well.
Seeing Kira's confused look Aro snorted in amusement. "Kid, Athrun Zala's the biggest poster boy for the ZAFT militia there's ever been, the hospital's are usually flooded with teenaged girls wondering whether or not they're a genetic match with Athrun to have children." Kira's eyes goggled at the mere thought of hordes of girls try to get into a hospital simply to see if they were compatible with Athrun. Aro had continued on completely missing Kira's flabbergasted look of utter astonishment.
"Poor kid got turned into a celebrity overnight, his father started making all these improvements to ZAFT, he was enlisted before he could even attend the ZAFT military academy so he ended up getting tutors hired by his father. Kids' been turned into a literal military genius and he doesn't even enter the academy until this year, he's going to be so far ahead of his classmates it's not even gonna be funny!" Aro finally noticed the look on Kira's face.
"Hey son! Kira! You okay?" Kira jerked, startled.
"Huh? Oh yea, just wondering how Athrun's coping, he was never a very outgoing person, he always preferred to keep to himself and the few friends he made, I bet this is probably a nightmare for him." Kira looked somber at the though of Athrun not even being able to go down the street without getting mobbed.
"Yea, poor kid has moved out to his parents house out in the countryside it got so bad, at least until he enters the ZAFT Academy this year." Aro sighed, glancing out the window of the shuttle.
"Well, looks like we're coming in for docking Kira. I'll be sure to send that picture you wanted to the Zala residence, maybe we'll see each other again someday and we can talk some more eh?" Aro asked slapping Kira on the shoulder as Kira smiled slightly and nodded before collecting his belongings and preparing for his reunion with his childhood friend.
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Kira looked in awe at the inside of the PLANT as he descended in one of the elevators at the core of the PLANT that moved people from one end of it to the other. The massive structure was truly a feat of engineering with almost perfect artificial gravity throughout the entire colony though it was slightly less than earth standard though not by much.
As the lift arrived at the colony's interior a small robotic head popped out of the pocket on the front of his unbuttoned short sleeve dress shirt before tilting to the side and looking around. Alerted by the movement, Kira looked down and smiled before reaching down into the pocket and pulling the small green and yellow robotic bird out and setting it on his shoulder where it chirped once before settling itself.
Kira shook his head at the antics of his robotic pet, even if they were only programmed in, before heading off to find a taxi to take him to where he needed to go. Finding one, he discovered they were much like the ones in Heliopolis being completely automated and that you could either select the destination from a list or do a search for a specific location. Doing a search and locating and selecting the Zala residence the automated car set off as Kira relaxed in his seat to enjoy the ride.
The ride through the city took about ten minutes during which he looked around him observing the life of a city of coordinators and found that it wasn't much different than any other persons. They went about their daily lives like any other person would with the only difference being that the society seemed abit more open and close-nit than any other colony he had seen with people greeting each other on the streets even though they were most likely complete strangers which caught him off guard a couple times though he managed to respond in kind without making a complete fool of himself.
As he left the city he stared in amazement at the complete detail of the artificially created environment with everything from birds to turtles making their way through the dense forest that surrounded the city before it gave way to open plains with lakes periodically dotting the rolling hills. While Kira was gazing at the landscape around him his pet was looking in a different direction before it abruptly started hopping from one foot to another in a imitation of human excitement which cause Kira to smile slightly before addressing the green robotic creation.
"Well, go on, I'm sure you're eager to see your creator again." As if able to understand Kira, Birdy took to the skies with grace befitting a real bird before soaring off in search of its creator.
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Athrun Zala stood in the kitchen next to a wooden table wearing a ZAFT recruits green with extremely sparse white trim uniform as demanded of by his tutors and stared mournfully at the bottom of his coffee mug, the beverage had grown on him over the months as he had needed to keep up with the grueling workload his tutors had set up for him. His empty mug though was not the reason for his depression, tomorrow would be the start of the first semester of the year of the ZAFT Academy and Kira, his best friend since they were but toddlers, had yet to show up.
Who am I kidding? It's been years since I saw him! He probably has a veritable horde of friends by now knowing him, hey may be shy but people have always been attracted to Kira no matter what he does. Athrun gazed dully out the window of the kitchen that overlooked his backyard and the lake behind it. His mother was even coming back early from her trip to Junius 7 to come and meet his friend, though she had only agreed to come back after hearing his name, something which puzzled Athrun greatly. It was going to be so embarrassing when Kira didn't show up and his mother came tomorrow expecting to see them both off to the ZAFT academy. His father was unfortunately stuck back in the city in a week long session of the Supreme Council debating on what to do now that the Blockade was broken.
Athrun was about to begin yet another self deprecating rant when a tapping on the window caught his attention. He looked up from his musing and the mug slid from his hands and hit the tiled floor with a dull thud. A small green bird with a yellow belly stood at the window pecking at the glass before cocking its head as if perplexed at the clear material that kept it from its creator.He almost tripped over his own feet it his rush to get to a small panel on the wall that was a intercom system that also gave him control of the large cast iron gate that blocked access to the property along with its matching fence. Frantically working the controls, Athrun managed to finally hit the right button allowing the gate to slide open on oiled gears silently. Not even bothering to pick his cup up off the floor he dashed out one of the doorways intent on reaching the front door before his soon to be arriving friend.
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Athrun waited impatiently at the front door of the large two story house that was his home barely able to stand still as if on a sugar high. The circular gravel driveway was empty except for Athrun's own car, a black sports car with sharp edges and an abundance of decorative vents, which had been given him for his past birthday.
Finally, a small gray topless two seat automated taxi slowed at the open gate and pulled onto the driveway before stopping some ways away, less than halfway all the way around the circuit. An indistinct figure dressed in black slacks and a open short sleeved red dress shirt over a black T-shirt stepped out before grabbing a black duffel bag with the ZAFT insignia on the side as well as a black laptop case before shutting the door and allowing the automated vehicle to trundle away before blowing past an impatient Athrun who stood waiting as the figure picked up its luggage and made its way closer.
Coming to a stop a couple of feet in front of him Athrun noted all the changes his friend had gone through while they were apart. Kira predictably stood many inches taller than when they had last met and it also looked like he had a slightly noticeable muscle tone and carried himself with the grace of someone who had practiced martial arts successfully at one point in his life. Kira's face got the closest inspection and he was surprised to see it hadn't changed at all, it was still heart shaped not having lost any of its baby fat yet and it didn't look like his hair had changed much either aside from being cut regularly to maintain its length. All of this had been observed in a few seconds that Kira was acutely aware of if his bowed head with a slight blush and shuffling feet were any indication.
Finally bringing his head up Kira looked Athrun in the eye, "Hey, Athrun."
"Kira!" Athrun threw himself at his friend engulfing him in a hug causing Kira to drop his luggage and spread his legs apart more to make sure he didn't fall over before wrapping his arms around his best friend he hadn't seen in over a year.
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A/N: Well, I finally got the revision for chapter 1 done, sorry for the long wait but this stories first few chapters are so slow its extremely hard to write them as ideas for later chapters keep popping up and distract me. Hopefully the next one won't take as long to revise and I can finish them all more quickly and get on with the story.Now I imagine some people are going to have some questions about the timeline. I honestly have no idea when exactly half the things before the actual start of Gundam seed happen so I'm just going to modify the events to fit my story. I will try to answer any questions you may have in the next revised chapter once it is finished.
(1) SiC: Second in command also known as an XO or executive officer in the modern day navy I believe.