Ok this kind of took a lot longer than I had intended to get out mainly because of personal stuff going in my life, lack of motivation and the fact that I deleted the chapter to start over from the beginning because I didn't like the first version. But Anyway, without further ado here's the rewritten version of Hopeful path.
Also, while a lot of the story is going to follow cannon I am NOT going to be following every little scene word for word and detail for detail, I can't literally remember every single word every character said throughout every single episode plus it adds some form of originality so keep that in mind.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam seed.
On a stage in front of numerous spectators a teen girl with clear blue eyes and long flowing pink hair wearing a white shirt with the sleeves separated at the shoulders and a long purple skirt that concealed her legs along with a golden triple laired hear pin sang an elegant song that many of whom who were listening found beautiful and heartfelt at the same time.
"In this quiet night. I'm waiting for you, forgetting the past and dreaming of you."
Many of the listeners smiled in adoration of the individual singing.
"Time passes by and memories fade, but time can't erase the love that we made."
The singer took in the expressions of her audience and was pleased to see they were enjoying the show.
"And the stars in the sky, that I wish upon can't bring you back to my side, though you're not here with me, I dream of the day we'll meet again"
"Hold me close, so deep in your heart."
"I will find you, no matter where I have to go, and dream of me, for I will be there."
Much of the audience cheered on in admiration for the singer and the talent she had for her career.
"Follow the stars, that lead into the quiet night."
From there the singer began the second verse of her song.
XXXXX
Viewing the video, a teen boy with tan skin which was the result a mixed lineage (Caucasian and Black) with short cut black hair practically to his scalp and eyes that were such a dark shade of brown that one could only see his pupils up close, in terms of attire he donned a yellow short sleeved shirt underneath a light gray hoodie that was zipped halfway up along with blue jeans and white shoes watched on simply savoring the feeling of serenity it brought him since it often helped him forget less painful memories of the times before he was adopted by his current family and came to live on the space colony of Heliopolis or whenever he was upset about anything making it something of an occasional pass time
The teen in question went by the name Eric Raglan and the reason for his current actions now were simply to put himself at ease or at least that was what he was aiming to achieve but a sense of irrational unease still lingered in the far back reaches of his mind even with the music video playing.
The reason the said unease could be thought of as irrational was because it was derived from a dream he had prior to waking up that very morning in which the colony was invaded but a military force known as Zaft invaded the colony however such a scenario was impossible. The reason being was that in spite of a war currently going between Zaft and another force known as the Earth Alliance the Colony Eric was currently residing was part of a neutral nation besides as far as Eric was personally concerned if there was anyone that'd invade the colony it'd be the Earth Alliance considering they were simply only fighting to force Zaft and its homeland into submission fore that sake of flaunting a sense of self supremacy and they were also the ones who instigated the entire ordeal via nuking an agricultural Plant colony known as Junious Seven in an event that was known as the bloody valentine.
The reason for the war that was being waged was because humanity had been split into two factions known as Naturals and Coordinators due to the actions of a famous man known as Gorge Glenn which gave birth to the latter of the faction.
Coordinator were created via genetic modification in the embryotic stage which resulted in them having faster reflexes, immunity to diseases, and the ability to process information much faster to state a few things, in simply terms Coordinators were capable of much higher feats much more easily than any Natural. Unfortunately, this resulted in Naturals developing feelings of jealousy and animosity towards Coordinators and taking it to the point of unjustly attacking, persecuting, discriminating against, and murdering them.
Eventually Coordinators decided to simply migrate into space and reside in special space colonies known as the Plants in hopes of simply living out their lives in peace however the Earth Alliance decided to forbid those living in the Plants from making their own food. Of course, this was simply for the sake of maintaining supremacy over Coordinators so the Earth Alliance could continually mistreat and exploit them as they pleased so it wasn't surprising when the Plant's severed ties with the Earth Alliance so they could finally live out their lives in peace without having to deal with constant injustices at the hands of those living on the Earth.
Unfortunately, The Earth Alliance and those who sympathized with them didn't take well to this and the Earth Alliance decided to put on a show of force in hopes of intimidating the Coordinators back into submission even going as far as to commit the bloody valentine act. Much to their dismay however the Plants didn't submit and instead created devices known as N Jammers and utilized them to put a stop to any and all nuclear devices in Space and Earth alike.
Since then the Earth Alliance had been waging an all-out war initially believing they could easily force the Plants back under their thumb only to have that arrogant notion shattered when the Plants' military force known as Zaft brought superior weaponry to the field known as Mobile suits which had vastly superior performance to any mobile armor. As a result, the Earth Alliance only could win when their forces at least outnumbered the enemy five to one if not more and as such the war between the Earth Alliance and Zaft had dragged on for the last eleven months with no end in sight.
While many other Nations were dragged into the war mostly because the Earth Alliance harbored an arrogant belief that everyone on earth owed them their loyalty, the nation that Heliopolis however was a part of was an officially recognized neutral territory known as Orb more or less making it a sanctuary from the war now going on.
Personally, Eric was more for Zaft winning far more than the Earth Alliance since while Zaft wasn't completely exempt of any crimes since the war started their cause was simply defending their homeland which was something no one from the Earth Alliance could honestly say about themselves.
Regardless however there was still some part of the teens mind telling him that wasn't your typical dream that what he saw in his sleep might very well come into fruition however ridiculous it may have seemed.
'There's no way Zaft would attack this colony. There's no reason for them to come here.' He told himself in his mind before being snapped out of his thoughts by another person.
"Hey Eric is this what you're up to? I probably should've figured as much considering how much of a fanboy you are for the Plants' number one idol." A voice said causing Eric to see a boy at least two years younger than himself with short spiky brown hair and hazel eyes wearing a simply dark blue short sleeved shirt and brown pants along with brown shoes.
Closing his PC and placing it in a zip up bag for the said PC Eric replied.
"Sorry Callahan, I'm just feeling under the weather today."
"Makes sense considering you're listening to Lacus Clyne's music."
"Anything going on with you?"
Callahan just scratched the back of head nonchalantly "Not really I was heading over to our school to see how Kira was holding up since the professor is so keen on taking advantage of his talents."
"Seriously? I know Kira's a Coordinator but the professor should seriously learn to give him a break."
"Yeah but when it comes to Kira he can be too nice for his own good."
"Yeah I probably should've known. Anyway, I'm pretty much free today so I mine come with you as well see what the others are up to."
"Good, it'll be good for you not to be constantly hanging by your lonesome." Callahan said as the two headed off to where Kira and their other friends were.
"By the way I been wanting to ask you since you're such a fan of her music have you ever wanted to meet Lacus Clyne?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "As nice as that sounds not really."
"Why not? The girl's pretty much admired by nearly anyone and everyone who isn't hung up on being jealous of Coordinators and most of her fans would kill for the chance to see her in person hell I can only imagine how many would dream of having her for girlfriend what with how good looking she is. Can you tell you don't find that idea appealing?"
"I can tell you I don't find it the least bit realistic so I'm not really getting my hopes up."
"Aw come on nothing will definitely happen with that attitude."
'That's easy to say when you ignore real life factors.' Eric thought while inwardly sighing.
However, captivating the scenario Callahan had painted seemed the sad reality was that it'd never happen for more than one reason. For starters the pop Idol known as Lacus Clyne resided in the Plants which was the homeland of Coordinators which wasn't a place any Natural had setting foot for any reason unless they were a parent of a first generation Coordinator which hardly applied to Eric which also brought up another point where the war was between Naturals and Coordinators simply put for the largest part the two were sworn enemies as of now, granted that rule didn't apply to Heliopolis since it was a part of the neutral nation of Orb which was known to accept anyone regardless of their genetic background under the ideology that both sides could coexist side by side in peace but the Plants were not a part of Orb and as such that coexistence didn't really apply there, while the presence of Natural minorities may have been tolerated there that was only for the sake of the first generation Coordinators they were the parents of them rather than any form of friendship or trust and like with other Natural's were viewed as inferior vermin by much of the Plant's population so it was very much possible that Lacus Clyne also despised Naturals in general, it wouldn't be hard to imagine considering the overall history between the two faction as well as the bloody valentine and if that was indeed the case Eric would definitely be on her hate list since he was a Natural.
All that wasn't even taking into account Lacus' popularity, her status as the Plants' number one Idol as well as the fact she was one of the most beautiful girls in the entirety of Cosmic Era meant she could have nearly anyone she wanted as a lover including people who were far better looking and had much more out standish traits than Eric, in terms of overall looks the teen more or less looked like your average everyday African male even if his skin tone was couple shades lighter due to his mixed heritage and in terms of personality he was pretty much average if not a bit of a loner some of the time, heck the only about him that probably stood out was his disdain for the Earth Alliance, simply put the social difference between him of Lacus was like that of a peasant boy and a royal princess.
Overall to say the very idea of Eric meeting let alone being in a relationship with Lacus Clyne was something that likely never happen was something of an understatement.
XXXX
"Hurry make the finale completions to the machine OS, we may very well need to really on its power to fight our way out of here when the attack on the colony begins." A man in his sixties with gray hair tied in a short braid and wore a white lab coat over a black shirt with tan pants by the name of Shirou Fujimoto said as he stood on a catwalk overlooking a Mobile suit that was unlike any Zaft had at their disposal.
Upon hearing his order one of his employees spoke up. "But sir the people headed to the colony are Zaft, if anything they're more than likely here for the Earth forces new mobile weapons not ours."
"You're not wrong in that regard. The Collaborations between the Earth forces and Orb were bound to gain Zaft's attention however those who would impede what we're intending to do here are likely hiding amongst them so they can act more covertly."
As unlikely as Shirou's claim may have sounded the head professor new better then to underestimate the intellect of the enemies he wished to oppose, they may not have had any real evidence of what Shirou had been up to on Heliopolis but they'd surely be aware that any project he worked on would have to be here in order to stay under the radar of both official sides of the war, simply put Shirou was utilizing the strategy of hiding in plain sight in under to elude any potential attention for the Earth Alliance or Zaft but as mentioned before this was something his group's personal advisory would definitely anticipate and act upon.
Shirou would be damned if he allowed them to have their way, While the mobile suit had had designed based off of the G weapons made of the Earth Alliance's and Orb's collaboration the Professor planned much further ahead. While the weapon he made was indeed powerful it was only the prototype of the weapon he truly intended to shift the world in the direction it should really be taking before humanity needlessly destroyed itself for idiotic reasons.
"You mean to say they'll most likely be disguising themselves as Zaft forces so they can infiltrate Heliopolis and search for us without tipping either side of their pretense or very existence." A young lady in her mid-twenties with shoulder length blond hair with curved bangs that framed the sides of her face and wore a white lab coat over a teal buttoned up shirt with grey pants and black boots by the name of Federica said.
"Yes, so I'd like to have the assigned pilot ready to sortie at a moment's notice."
"I'll let him know." Federica replied. 'Marcus please don't get hurt."
XXXXXX
Outside the colony three Zaft ships known as the Vasilios, Gamow, and Requiem were steadily approaching the Colony's docks ignoring repeating warnings from its personal.
"Attention Zaft vessels the colony you are approaching is part of neutral territory, you are hereby ordered to halt your approach and vacate this area. I repeat you are hereby ordered to halt your approach and vacate the area at once."
On onboard the Gamow the soldiers on onboard simply brushed the warning aside. "Are these dumbasses for real? If they seriously think they're still neutral after helping the Earth Alliance build mobile suits they pretty fucking deluded." Said a Zaft red pilot with near shoulder length silver hair announced.
"Can't argue with that. With the type of collaboration, we should just consider Orb in its entirety are enemies." Another Zaft red pilot with a dark skin tone and blond hair said.
"But what about the Civilians? If we attacked the nation itself they'd be caught up in it!" A third Zaft red with green hair exclaimed in worry.
"The bigger part of their population are Naturals so it shouldn't really matter to us." The Silvered haired Zaft red pilot said.
It was then a pilot with near shoulder length dark blue and green eyes, like the green haired pilot he didn't harbor any real desire to attack the colony since it held a high number of civilians many of which would unavoidably die during the course of the operation after it started but by the end of the day…..
"Regardless of the population's genetic ratio let's just focus on completing the mission as quickly as possible. With minimal damage to the colony or the residents."
The silver haired pilot rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Sheesh Athrun could you and Nicole be anymore cowardly? Naturals are nothing but a lesser race."
XXXXX
"You're absolutely clear on your team's objective, aren't you?" A blond commander wearing a mask asked a CGUE pilot who had already launched from their designated ship.
"Yes sir, were the we're scout other parts of the Colony mopping up any enemies we find while Miguel's squad covers the Zaft reds who are to pilot the mobile suits we came here for."
"Good I'll leave you to it then." The masked Commander said before cutting the link between the Gamow and CGUE pilot's machine.
As the corner screen in the CGUE's cockpit turned black the pilot smirked before contacting the ship he was initially assigned to which caused the screen to turn on again this time displaying a man with combed back blond hair wearing a stoic demeanor wearing a black Zaft captains uniform.
"I assume you've contacted us to give us a status report, Bernard?" The blond captain inquired.
"Pretty much the Rau La Cruset guy felt the need to remind that we gotta keep tabs on all the other areas of the colony aside from where the Earth Alliance's new soon to be stolen toys are."
"In that case you shouldn't have too much of a difficult time performing your true mission while fooling those who are actually loyal to the Plants."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Bernard announced with a cocky smirk on his face.
"Just make sure you don't let your confidence lead you to make idiotic decisions during the course of the mission the last thing we need is our cover being blown."
"Relax Rooks, the objective we've been given by the Commander gives me and my guys a lot of free reign the scout throughout Heliopolis' interior."
"Just keep in mind the Requiems' crew cannot afford to have its cover blown here or we may very well end up having to defend ourselves from all sides which would cause our mission here to fail."
"I know I'll be sure Fujimoto's new weapon never makes its debut." Bernard said before cutting the link. Onboard the bridge of the Salvation Rook sighed in slight annoyance.
'That man's overconfidence had best not put us in a tight spot.' The reason for the captain's alert behavior was because while the Requiem and its crew appeared to be part of Zaft's military the real truth was that not a single person aboard the ship actually held even the smallest semblance of loyalty to the military created to protect the Plants in fact not everyone on the ship was actually a Coordinator but even those who were didn't believe in anything Zaft stood for.
"Let's make sure we do our part." Rooks announced to those on the bridge at their designated stations before he continued. "To correct the flaws of the Cosmic Era."
XXXXX
At the docks of Heliopolis, a fair number of GINNs began entering the Colony and flying to various parts of the city.
Many residents watched in shock before becoming anxious with fear.
"Why are there mobile suits inside the colony!?"
"Has Zaft decided to attack us?"
"But we're a Neutral territory that's apart of Orb, Zaft shouldn't have any reason to come here!"
Inside a facility charged with surveillance of the outside of the Colony a frustrated manager watched the events playing out on a screen with displayed a view of much of the Colony's interior.
"Hasn't anyone told Zaft to leave this area?!"
"We have sir but they've simply ignored all our messages."
The manager's eyes widened upon hearing this, if Zaft forces were simply ignoring all request to vacate the area on top of having sent multiple mobile suits into Heliopolis that made their intentions all too clear.
"Sound the alarm now!"
XXXXX
"Kira, you know you really gotta learn to decline the professors request every once in a while, you know that don't you." Eric said addressing a brunette boy around his age with purple eyes wearing a black shirt and teal pants.
"Please don't remind me. I'm not even done with the stuff he dumped on me yesterday." Kira replied before groaning.
"Well if you're tired of all the work our teacher's how about we talk about you're feeling for you know who." Another brunette boy by the name of Tolle Koenig said before coming up behind Kira and wrapping arm around his neck playfully.
"To-Tolle not here." Kira said.
"Um what's everyone talking about?" Another boy who was known as Sai Argyle inquired causing Kira to become visibly nervous.
"Oh, come you know." Tolle jaded.
As everyone watched on either laughing at the scene before them or waited in anticipation for Kira's response Eric simply sighed. 'Should have figured Tolle would bring this up.'
The subject or to be more precise the person he was referring as "You know who." Was actually a girl who Kira harbored romantic feelings for a girl by the name of Flay Alster though there was an obvious problem in the form of her being arranged to be wed to Sai Argyle though Tolle still insisted there was hope for him since Flay and Sai weren't yet married.
While many found the idea of Kira having a crush on someone cute or appealing Eric simply pitied Kira. While Flay was easy on the eyes earning Sai much envy from more than a few boys at their school Eric had heard the girl migrated from the Atlantic Federation which was the birth place of an extremist group known as Blue Cosmos who were obsessed with wiping out all Coordinators as well as where the group had nearly all of the general population (if not all of it) eating out of the palm of their hand. On top of that her father was a major vice foreign minister of the Atlantic Federation who had expressed blatant support for Blue Cosmos' ideals. Both facts combined with the how Flay from the times Eric had seen her often had her face contorted in disgust whenever she saw anyone demonstrating the abilities of a Coordinator made it fairly obvious she was a stereotypical Blue Cosmos sympathizer who'd probably become full-fledged supporter if she were ever given any position of power and since Kira himself was Coordinator Eric couldn't help pitying him for having feelings for one of the last people he should be involved with in any shape or form.
Flay might have looked like an appealing girl on the surface but the underlying reality was that she's was a pathetic excuse of a human being. Still who Kira decided was his type wasn't really any of Eric's business and as such he didn't plan on involving himself in any way. All he'd do was hope Kira was capable of grasping the truth of things before he possibly got needlessly hurt.
Kira's love life aside Eric found himself remembering earlier when he and Callahan had first met up with the others and Kira was watching a news report showing an attack on Taiwan by Zaft. Another friend of his and Callahan's friends who went by the name Mirriallia Haw expressed some worry since the attack didn't take place very from Orb's homeland before Tolle who was actually her boyfriend reassured her that Orb was a neutral territory and therefore it would never turn into a battlefield.
Personally, while Eric was well aware of Orb's neutrality a part of his mind remembered the dream he had that morning before repeating the phrase from earlier in his mind. 'There's no way Zaft would attack this colony. There's no reason for them to come here.'
"There's absolutely no reason from them to come here." Eric muttered to himself before he felt his stomach turn cold and eyes widen to their limit upon hearing an alarm go off throughout the entire colony. Looking out a window the teen soon witnessed a GINN type mobile land atop on overpassing freeway off in the distance long enough to use its machine gun to destroy a small number of armored vehicles that tried to intercept it.
"This can't seriously be happening, there's no way this can be real." Eric muttered to himself in denial even the proof of what was transpiring was right in front of him. The dream he had that morning, the dream he was trying to forget was coming true.
"Hey what's going on? Is Zaft seriously attacking us?" Tolle asked.
"But we're a neutral Colony." Another boy known as Kuzzy Buskirk said.
"Let's just get to the shelters!" Callahan exclaimed before running out of the room with everyone following behind him.
XXXXX
"Spotted the three of the targets." Announced a Zaft red who smirked behind the visor of their helmet before continuing.
"Sheesh I knew Naturals were dumb fucks but this is just painful to watch we haven't even rattled their cage that much."
Another voice replied over the radio.
"What do you expect Yzak? They've always been far beneath us in literally every sense."
"I know it just I thought with how much denial the show in the face of that fact they'd actually be able to think at least one move ahead."
"Well from the looks of things even that was too high of an expectation for them." Another Zaft red aside from the one now identified as Yzak said.
"Pretty much anyway let's hurry up and secure these three suits, Athrun and Rusty have already went on ahead to secure the other two." Yzak said whilst grinning almost predatorily. 'I'm gonna enjoy seeing the reaction these inferior earthborn pieces of trash have when the find out their new weapons will soon be ours.'
XXXXX
Throughout the Morgenroete facility people were scrambling to find any shelter they were able to get to in order to obtain any safety from the battle going on outside the building and quickly spreading to all areas of the colony.
"Why is this happening? We're not supposed to be involved in this war!" Kuzzy exclaimed.
"Tell that to the mobile suits blasting everything to hell." Tolle retorted.
"Are we all gonna die?!" Mirriallia asked in fear.
"We just got to get to the shelters and wait until this is over." Sai replied trying to reassure her though even he wasn't so sure if that'd really be the case with the sheer amount of destruction Zaft forces were reaping though that didn't stop Tolle from trying to add the sense of reassurance
"Yeah it's just like Sai said we'll be safe at the shelters."
"All the more reason for us to hurry up." Callahan announced.
While everyone was engrossed in debating why the war had spread to Heliopolis of all places Eric who had been silent the entire time stared out a window to the side of the corridor as he followed along with the others watching the fight unfolding just outside.
So far, the only real resistance Zaft seemed be actually be met with was armored vehicles belonging to morgenroete but any fight they put up could barely be thought of as mediocre and that was stretching it in terms of trying to compliment them considering the most they'd accomplish was stalling a GINN for a couple of moments before being met with destructive retaliation.
However as sudden as the fighting started thing suddenly took a different turn when Eric suddenly spotted a small number of mobile armors belonging to the Earth Alliance enter to colony including one that was orange had four gun barrels the top, bottom and both sides of its back with a slender front body.
Seeing this Eric's eyes narrowed in anger. 'So that's why Zaft's attacking this colony, I should have figured as much.'
Zaft was attacking the colony because of the Earth Alliance forces here. Still that raised the question of what the Earth Alliance was doing there. If they wanted to use the colony has a supply or base they would have supply invaded Heliopolis themselves and annexed the colony, they had a pretty solid history of annexing neutral territories that wanted nothing to do with the war. In which case that had to mean the Earth Alliance had to have been doing something here that compelled Zaft to act. The question was what that something was. Regardless if the answer the fat still remained that thanks to it the colony has now under attack.
'Leave to the Earth Alliance to get us dragged into this mess.'
"Hey where are you going?!" A voice rang out grabbing the teen's attention and causing him to turn to the source in time to find Kira chasing a figure who had most of their body covered in a long coat and wore a hat. Judging from their attire it was a safe bet to say they wore trying to hide who they wore and now that Eric thought about it he recalled them hanging around the room him and his friends were previously in before the attack started before slipping away almost like they wore trying to avoid being seen.
Back then Eric didn't bother to make much note of their presence simply choosing to dismiss it as nothing of any real importance at the time but now seeing this person (at least to his knowledge) using the attack by Zaft and the panic it had caused to slip away from everyone Eric became far more curious as to what they wore trying to do which compelled them to head in a direction where there were no shelters in fact last Eric checked the direction they took lead to a Morgenroete facility that was closed to the general public.
It was than that Kira managed to catch up to the figure and grab ahold of their writ much to their annoyance. "Let go of me you jerk!"
The figure tried to wrest the arm from Kira's grasp but weren't meant with any real success due to Kira being a Coordinator.
"Kira where in the world are you going?" Eric asked as he caught up to both of them before the building shook violently from what was likely a nearby explosion causing all three of the corridors current occupants to fall over as well as the unknown figure's hat to fall off revealing them to be a teen girl with near shoulder length blond hair which took Kira by surprise.
"You're a girl?"
The teen female glared at the brunette. "Yeah what were you expecting."
"I think the better question is why did you try to come this way by yourself." Eric retorted gaining the girl's attention.
"What's it to you?"
"Considering the nearest shelters along this route are at least twice a far as the ones everyone else is heading towards. I'm guessing it might have something to due with what's going on."
"So, what? Where I go isn't any of your or this asshole's business."
"Considering an attack id taking place outside this place that everyone can easily get caught up in I'd have to disagree."
Before the blond stranger could retort the building rumbled throwing everyone off their feet before the path they had previously used caved in essentially cutting them off from the others which Kira quickly took note of.
"It likes we can't go back anymore."
The stranger growled in annoyance.
"You've got to be kidding me." She then turned to Eric and Kira.
"Listen you both better follow me if you want get out of this alive." The blonde figure announced before running off without giving either of the teens a chance to reply.
"Hey wait up." Kira called out giving chase.
'Dammit why did the war have to come here?' Eric thought as he followed the other two teens for the next few minutes asking himself if Callahan had made it safely to a shelter or if Abram had managed to get any safe at all when all of this had started.
It didn't take long before the three teens came to the end of a corridor which led to second floor of a large open room where they were greeted with a site the caused them to stop and do a double take.
Looking over the railing of the three teens eyed two unusual mobile suits that didn't like anything like a GINN or any type of Zaft mobile suit that any of them knew about. Both machines looked similar and yet sporadically different in terms of appearance.
Both a head that looked much more humanoid in terms of appeared compared to GINN both had to eyes sensors though one had a pair of emerald green and a rather plain looking face plate along with a simple V fin atop it's forehead extending diagonally to the left and right just beneath a green jewel and a long protrusion that was likely some kind of sensor whilst the other machine had amber yellow eyes and a somewhat more elaborate design to its face sporting two horizontal gaps to itself face plate that likely acted as some kind of outward speaker wall its V fin had two extra inner fins sticking straight upwards. Atop its forehead was a yellow jewel.
"I knew it!" The Blonde girl exclaimed before felling to her knees.
"The Earth forces' new mobile weapons. Father I know you betrayed us all!"
Eric's eyes narrowed. 'So, my hunch was right. It's the Earth Alliance that brought Zaft here!' before Eric's training of thought could go any farther a group of Zaft gunman emerged from a door on the second floor on the opposite he and the other two teens were on initially firing at the Earth officers attempting to defend the mobile suits in question.
Among them was one man who had a rather sadistic look in his eyes who after a few moments turned his gaze to the three teens before taking aim at them.
Luckily both Eric and Kira noticed in time for the former to dive to the left and the latter to grab the blond girl and dive to the right out off the gunman's line of fire. Just as this was happening a door in the corner of the room in the direction Eric had dived towards had opened before a man with ruffled black hair who was wearing a brown mechanic suits came through the door pointing a rifle at the gun the gunman at the other side of the second before firing forcing them to move out of the of the bullets.
During this time Eric gazed over at Kira and Blond girl before the former met his gaze. "Come on It's not safe here."
Eric was about to follow after Kira as he the blonde stranger but was stopped by a spray of bullets hit the wall in front of him causing him to fall backwards.
Almost immediately after a hand wrapped around his arm pulling him back to his feet and towards the door the black-haired rifleman came out previously, after regaining his bearing Eric soon found out it was the black hair individual who had grabbed ahold of him.
"I know you don't know me but you'd best come with me if you want to live."
"Wait. Who are you?"
"Marcus Goldman but just call me by my first name, I'm not much for formalities."
"Okay Marcus where in the world are you taking me?"
"Next door to a facility you'd normally never be allowed to enter in order to save your life."
"But I'm just a complete stranger."
"So, what you're still a human being with your own thoughts and feelings as well as a life to live." Marcus reply before he yanked Eric behind him whilst aiming his rifle down the direction they came from. After a few short moments had passed one of the gunmen tried to came through the entrance only for Marcus shoot them in the heart.
"Come on they'll soon follow us into the place. We need to get further inside." Marcus announced leading the further down the corridor.
The sound of static was suddenly heard coming from Marcus' hip drawing Eric attention to what turned out to be a radio which Marcus quickly drew from his hip before a feminine voice emanated from it.
"Marcus, where are you?!"
"At the entrance connecting to the morgenroete facility."
"What? Why?!" The person on the other end exclaimed their voice laced with worry.
"I figured I could stall the impersonators within Zaft's ranks and give our guys the time the needed to ready a defensive line to hold off any intruders.
Eric's eyes widened considerably. 'Impersonators? What does he mean?'
"Marcus! You can't go off doing anything reckless you're the pilot for the Hope."
"I know but there's no point in piloting that machine or even its creation if I can't save anyone aside from myself. Also, I was forced to bring a civilian with me."
"How could something like that possibly have…forget it, just bring them with you I'll have one of my coworker take them off your hands while you take the Hope and get it off this colony. Father's already having the crew board the Alabama."
"Alright I'll be there." Marcus replied places the radio back on his hip.
"So, what's going to happen with me?" Eric inquired
"Well either we'll find a shelter for you or you might be stuck with us for the long haul."
Eric wasn't sure how to react to the knowledge of the possibility that he might end up being stuck with a group of people he knew nothing about. At first, he thought Marcus was a member of the EA but his mechanic uniform was different from the officers who were trying to fight off Zaft soldiers attempting to take the mobile suits plus Marcus from Eric's immediate impression didn't put up any real effort to safeguard the machine's in question.
Unfortunately for the teen the only alternative he had available was to get killed off by the Zaft impersonators (At least according to Marcus) so any qualms he may have had with following someone who he scarcely knew the first thing about were more or less irrelevant at the moment.
XXXXX
Bernard had to admit the fact that there was someone who was giving a difficult time was a bit tedious since this particular mission required him to maintain the cover of being a Zaft operative and the longer the mission dragged of the more the risk of that said cover being blown increased but at the same time the CGUE pilot relished some kind of challenge since it'd make carrying his objective out a little more fun. Besides the rifle man who was delaying him had a teen civilian in his charge now so Bernard had an obvious opening to utilize if he needed to bring the clash to a swift end.
"Come on we gotta hurry up before these guys get the machine up and running. It'll make that mission easier to carry out." Bernard announced as he and the squad with him entered the corridor to give chase after the man that took out one of their own before retreating to the neighboring facility.
'To think these guys were literally only next door. Still the fact that their little base of operations was right under the Alliance and Orb's noses is probably why no one knows what their up to.' He thought as he and his squad eventually came to a front lobby area where they were immediately beset by heavy gun fire from a little under ten riflemen not including the one that initially impeded his squad momentarily. As a result, two more members of Bernard's squad were instantly killed whilst he and the remainder were forced to either retreat back into the corridor or take cover behind any furniture they were able to get behind in time.
"Damn these guys really aren't making this easy for us, are they?" One of the squad members hid behind a three-person couch along with Bernard who pulled a grenade off his person and pulled the ring to it.
"Makes sense considering who they're under the employ of." Bernard replied before throwing the explosive which took out around five of six enemies giving his squad the opening the needed to push the defending PMCs defensive line back.
"Let's call in some reinforcements from the Requiem. We'll need them if we run into any more defensive lines."
"But Zaft forces might notice."
"We can just tell them that we have reason to believe there's another mobile suit this way because of how heavily guarded it is. We wouldn't exactly be lying and if they see they'll just jump to the conclusion that it's another mobile suit that the EA made."
XXXXX
"Please open up." Kira's pleaded over the com system to a shelter.
Since the time he and the blond stranger he had decided to follow got separated from Eric they had been forced to retreat from the place where the Earth Alliance's mobile suits were being kept and resumed looking for a shelter which lead them to finding the one they were currently at however…
"I'm sorry we're already at full capacity." A voice replied over the com system much to the brunette's frustration.
"Ok then please just take my friend she just a girl." Kira said grabbing the blond stranger and pushing her into the elevator that lead to the shelter below.
"Hey what are you..?" The Blond teens sentence was cut off as the elevator door closed.
Without waiting for the elevator to head downwards Kira headed back towards where the two machines were kept in hopes of finding Eric.
XXXXX
"Sir we found a Drake class ship docked at one of the colony's harbors." A crewman on the bridge of the requiem reported.
"So, the Earth forces had an extra ship even we had no knowledge of." Rooks mused.
"Actually, the vessel in question isn't showing any type IFF code matching that of the Earth forces."
The Captain of the Requiem raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "You just informed me it was a Drake class."
"Yes, it's definitely that type of model but it's not showing a signal matching the Earth forces.
"I see." Rook said staring straight ahead silently for a few moments.
"If that's the case then it possible that the ship doesn't actually belong to the Earth forces." The Requiem's captain mused before addressing the rest of the ship's crew.
"Let's destroy it."
"Are you sure there's really a need?" One of the crew members inquired believing that the Drake class ship was more or less harmless to the Requiem's mission and the crew's overall cause.
"Of course. If it's not with the Earth Alliance than it could very well belong to our advisory which means we can likely seal off his personal path of escape and if it's simply a military after all well it's destruction will help us maintain our cover."
XXXXX
"Federica what are you still doing here? You need to board the Alabama before it departs."
"I'm not leaving until Marcus gets here."
Shirou inwardly groaned in annoyance at this while he was well aware of his daughter's personal feeling when it came to the pilot selected and trained to pilot the mobile suit he built in order to combat the leader of the Zaft impersonator's ambition for the people living in the Cosmic Era but this really wasn't the time for Federica to let her emotions let for emotions dictate her action.
"I know you and him are close but that's no excuse to linger in a place that's on the verge of becoming a free fire zone."
"As soon as the Alabama launches its likely to by attacked by Zaft forces or the Earth Alliance so it won't make much of a difference. Besides Marcus has a civilian with him.
Shirou paused upon hearing this before he groaned in annoyance. "Why in the world would he bring an outsider into this."
"I'm not sure, he only said he was forced to bring them with him."
"I see, if that's the case we'll have no alternative but to bring them aboard the Alabama."
Federica's eyes "Father you can't be serious. Once we leave the colony Barclay's men are going to pursue us relentlessly."
"Yes, but thanks to Marcus' impulsiveness it's either bring him with us or leave him to die. We've no time to look for a shelter to put them in."
"So, then it's already been decided what's gonna happen with this kid before I even here." A new voice said causing both Shirou and Federica to turn to see Marcus standing on the second-floor catwalk along with the civilian in question who turned out to be a teen boy who simply stared at the Mobile suit known as the Hope which was currently laying on its back.
"I take it that's the civilian you had brought with you?" Shirou inquired.
"Yeah." Marcus replied as he began leading Eric down a flight of stairs leading to the first floor.
"I see than let's not waste anymore. Federica can take him on board you need to hurry and board the Hope and bring it to the Alabama's hanger bay"
"On it." Marcus replied before that sound of a nearby explosion had taken place causing the whole room to shake violently which in turn caused most people present to lose their footing to fall over.
"What the hell was that?" Marcus asked whilst Shirou rose back to him feet trembling. 'That explosion came from the direction of the Alabama. Don't tell me…!'
A few moments later a voice emanated from a radio on the professor's hip.
"Professor Fujimoto please come in!"
Shirou wasted no time in bringing the radio in front of him. "What is it?"
"It's the Alabama. It's been destroyed!"
"What?! That was our only means to escape."
"So, then what do we do now?!" Marcus inquired.
"We'll have to use the Hope to fight the enemy as well as invading Zaft forces." Shirou declared intent on making sure that the mission the Hope was built to begin didn't come to an abrupt end before it actually started.
"Do you have any idea what you want everyone else here to do?"
"They should take the Hope's replicated data as well as that of the Earth forces new ship then head to any shelters they're able to find and rendezvoused in Orb's mainland."
"That sounds like a swell idea, it truly does however…." A voice said causing everyone to turn to the entrance Eric and Marcus originally used to enter the room and see the man who had initially tried to kill Eric, Kira and that other person when they had initially found the Earth forces new mobile suits along with somewhere around fifteen to twenty other riflemen. "but it's my mission to make sure that doesn't happen!"
With all the gunmen under their squad leader aimed their weapons at various employees working under Shirou who in response ran behind various pieces of equipment and other things large enough to be used as cover before a few who had guns of their own began returning fire.
Marcus immediately pulled Eric between the legs of the mobile suit before peeking out from behind the sole of its foot and returning fire taking out a few Zaft impersonators forcing the rest to scatter whilst their squad leader smirked and began making his way down the stairs leading to the floor while firing at Marcus and forces him back behind cover.
"The name's Bernard remember it well since I'm the one who's gonna end you." The squad leader who was now identified announced.
'As if I plan on dying here.'
At the same time this was happening Shirou had taken aim at Bernard with the intent of taking him out and giving Marcus the time he'd need to board the Hope but before he could fire off even a single shot from the side arm he possessed his heart was suddenly pierced by a bullet from one of the Zaft impersonators still on the second-floor catwalk.
'No, I have to make certain Barclay doesn't do what he wishes unopposed!' The professor thought as he fell to the floor before not before hearing a familiar voice scream out.
"Father!" A horrified Federica screamed out as she ran out from behind the cover she was using to head over to where the professors had fallen to the ground before being stopped by Marcus who quickly grabbed ahold of her ran while she was in mid run and pulled her behind the Hope's leg
"Let me go!" Federica screamed out as tried to break free from Marcus' grip whilst tears streamed down her cheeks.
"If you go out there you'll be killed along with him."
Eric was watching silently could only gaze at what was happening before his very eyes in horror as past memories that he more often than not wished to forget rushed to the surface.
Senseless bloodshed, needless deaths, pointless tragedies all these factors were always very much present in any war, it was for this reason most people would rather avoid any type of warfare since it could easily cost theme the life of a loved one if not their own life and the gun fight unfolding before the teen boy was no different.
The teen boy quickly found himself wishing the events happening around him were nothing more than a nightmare but even if that was the case it would have been one that he wouldn't wake from anytime soon and even that hypothetical scenario would have been nothing short of a luxury at this point considering it would have meant that any loss of life wasn't real.
Unfortunately, truth was a cruel mistress as of now which Eric would be forced to accept weather he liked it or not which became very apparent when Bernard came in front a the area between the legs of the mobile suit and took aim with his rifle before firing at Marcus who threw himself and Federica to the ground narrowly avoiding being killed by the incoming hail of bullets while Eric crouched and leaned against the inner leg of the mobile suit before Marcus returned fire forcing Bernard to take cover behind the sole of the machine's foot.
"You need to get inside the Hope!" Federica who had come to her senses though she was still in somewhat of a grief-stricken state exclaimed.
"I know but I can't get to it at the moment while this guy is trying kill us. If I try board the Hope right now he'd use the opportunity to put a bullet in my back."
"Ya got that right, I really can't let you get in that thing especially since it incorporates the same technology the Mobile suits made by the Earth forces have." Bernard announced peeking around from behind the sole of the Hope's foot and firing at Marcus who dashed to the other side against the opposite leg pulling Federica with him in the process.
Before the assigned pilot could return fire, he felt a hand grab ahold of his side and pull it from its hoister. The hand that grab his handgun of course belonged to none other than Federica who wasted no time in turning off the weapon's safety and firing at Bernard causing him to retreat behind cover.
"Go I'll give you cover so hurry up."
"You need to think about this rationally."
"I am!" Federica replied with a firmness that stunned Marcus into momentary silence before she continued.
"My father created that machine in hopes of stopping Barclay and those under him from carrying their ideal for this world! I'm not going to let it fall into the hands of these bastard or b destroyed before it can carry out its purpose!"
Marcus stared at Federica for a few long moments before he finally decided to simply acknowledge her resolve. "Alright but don't throw your life away."
"Don't worry I won't." Federica said as she continued to fire at the area in front of Bernard to keep him from coming out from behind cover and giving Marcus the breathing room he needed to get to the mobile suits cockpit.
Unfortunately for the assigned pilot who of the few Zaft impersonators who was still on the second-floor catwalk took notice of what he was attempted to do and fire at him as he tried to climb atop the unit's skirt armor forcing him to drop back down. Matters only went from bad to worst when Federica ran out of bullets which Bernard wasted no time in taking advantage of as he came out from behind his cover running across to the other foot firing at Federica in the process and getting her in the left upper arm causing her to scream out as she dropped the side arm and clutched the wound with her right hand.
Bernard took aim to let loose one more bullet to finish her off but was stopped in his tracks when Marcus shot off his own salvo of bullets forcing the squad leader behind the sole of the mobile other foot before he placed himself in front of Federica protectively keeping his gun aimed at the area where Bernard had taken cover ready to fire the moment Bernard emerged which Federica immediately made her protest known to the assigned pilot. "Marcus, you need to board the mobile suit now!"
"I will but I'm not leaving you here to die."
"My life isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. Besides didn't you decided to become the machine's pilot so you have a chance of turning the course of the world's history in a better direction than the one it was currently on? You're not gonna achieve that trying to save everyone."
"I know that!" he retorted silencing injured OS programmer.
"I might only be one person and realistically there's no way I can literally keep anyone and everyone from needlessly dying however, there's no point in even piloting this machine if I'm not able to keep the two people who are currently in front of me from needlessly losing their lives."
Eric's eyes widened considerably upon hearing this. While it might have made sense for Marcus to go to these type of Lengths for Federica since she was someone he knew the fact remained that Eric himself was just a complete stranger who had been caught up in this mess by chance while Marcus might have taken some initiative to save him back when he, Kira, and that other girl stumbled upon the Earth forces Mobile suits but as things stood now it would be far more pragmatistic for him to just worry about Federica and himself and board the mobile suit, that's certainly what any officer of the Earth Alliance have done.
At the same time the squad leader Bernard also picked up on this and smiled in contemplation. 'Nice little sentiment you got there, too bad it's nothing more than an exploitable weakness.' "So ya think you can save the two people with ya huh?"
Marcus tensed up upon hearing this.
"Well then let's see you save the life of the brat you brought here with you."
Marcus' eyes widened as he realized what Bernard was planning to do. As the squad leader dashed from behind cover rolling across the floor in the process before leveling his rifle on Eric who could only watch on in terror.
Was he really going to die here, just like that? He still had no way of knowing if Kira and the Blond stranger they had run into had made it to a shelter or if his adoptive father had, unfortunately regardless of how much he may have wanted these answers he wasn't going to be receiving any of them. There was nothing he could hide behind for cover and throwing himself to the ground wasn't an option since Bernard had already taken aim at him.
Closing his eyes Eric simply waited for the uninventable shot which felt like it took forever before it was finally heard however…..
"MARCUS!" Federica's voice screamed out causing Eric to see that he was still uninjured and that Marcus was now standing in front of him with his rifle aimed at Bernard who fled behind cover as Marcus fired the last of his round before the squad leader discovered he was also out of ammo completely causing a slight scowl to form on his face.
"tch I would have rather taken the other two out also to make that guy's death that much more disheartening but whatever. My mission's more or less accomplished with this groups' chosen pilot down for the count." The squad leader mused to no one in particular before deciding to contact the Requiem.
"This is Bernard here, I managed to shoot the pilot of our target."
The captain of the Requiem immediately replied. "What of the target itself?"
"Still intact but without a pilot we'll easily be able to capture the thing."
"And you're certain the assigned pilot is dead?"
"I shot him straight in his chest, even if he didn't drop immediately internal bleeding will assure he dies sooner or later."
"I see but I want you to standby in your CGUE as a precaution until it's confirmed the machine has been secured."
"Huh?"
"Just do it. Barclay made it clear he would like nothing left to chance."
"Fine." 'Seriously what the fuck could possibly go wrong at this point?'
XXXXX
Eric could only stare at Marcus who stood in front him letting both of his arms fall to his sides dropping his rifle in the process.
"Hey there are still guys wi…" Eric stopped in midsentence sentence as Marcus suddenly fell to his knees before he began to fall forward before Federica caught him.
The tan skinned toned teen starred on confused before deciding to walking around Marcus and Federica to discovered something that made the blood drain from his face as he discovered while he himself had come out uninjured when Bernard tried to kill him. Marcus had taken the shot for him and now sport a wound in his chest that was bleeding out rather profusely.
"Why?" Was all Eric could say earning a silent glare from Federica who was like seeing him as being ungrateful whilst Marcus simply chuckled a bit before coughing blood.
"I'm just a complete stranger so why would you let yourself be shot just for me?" Eric inquired.
"Because I'd never be able to make anything better if I simply ignore someone in front of me when they're life is in danger."
"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds, trying to play the part of some make-believe hero is only going to put you in danger."
Rather then immediately replaying Marcus grabbed ahold of Eric's hand who near instantaneously felt the most mind-blowing sensation he ever had go through his mind as knowledge of the assigned pilot's ideals, aspirations, and fears all became clear to him all within a single moment without even the smallest margin of error.
He also truly understood just how grim the war being waged could truly become. But still Eric could only wonder what could possibly be done with how intent the Earth forces on enslaving or wiping the Coordinators.
"I've never thought of myself as any type of hero, I simply want the stream of needless losses and tragedies to stop and that won't happen if one simply turns their head away and pretends not to notice anything wrong with the world nothing will change. Living in neutral territory and clinging to the sense of security it gives you won't help bring an end to a meaningless war that's only going to get worst as time goes on." Marcus said before changing the subject.
"You really are just like me. Born with the same abnormal senses that most other people Natural or Coordinator are completely oblivious to."
Eric's eyes widened as another sensation was sent through his mind, this time however instead of an understanding of Marcus' Hope's and dreams it was knowledge of the machine he had trained himself to pilot, more so to the point knowledge of how to pilot the machine.
"I know this is probably the single most unreasonable request in the entirety of humanity considering the torch I'm practically shoving into your hands but you're the only one I can trust." Marcus said baffling the teen.
"How? you literally just only met me today."
"Yes, but I guess I wanted to meet you from the time I first sensed you seeing as it meant there was someone like me before I sought you out and found you in the area containing the Earth forces mobile suit."
Eric's confusion only rose further. "But how could you have possibly known I was there or even sensed me. That's not physically possible."
"Not for most people it isn't, but you and I are an exception because we both have the same special senses the everyone else oblivious to."
The teen and OS programmer stayed silent allowing the dying pilot to continue.
"We've both came to completely understand one another in an instant without any misconception."
As much as Eric would have liked to refute that claim he simply know it would be a vain effort especially with what he now knew about Marcus and vice versa and with how he knew what Marcus was about to request.
"Take the machine and get it out of here before it falls into the hands of those after it."
Federica who had been silent up until now immediately protested. "Marcus, you can't seriously be thinking of handing over my dad's project to some random teenage boy!"
"Federica I'm gonna be dead from internal bleeding in the next few minutes."
"Don't say that. Losing my dad was bad enough but I can't lose you too!"
"There's no avoiding it, the best thing you can do is gather whoever's still left and rendezvous in Ord's mainland before deciding what to do next."
"But…." Federica couldn't bring herself to speak further as tears streaming down her face.
"Federica it'll Ok." Marcus said placing his hand on the side of Federica's face. "I know it'll be hard but you got to move forward."
The dying pilot than turn his attention back to Eric. "Take the Hope to the Earth forces new ship the Archangel. I imagine if the specs are anything to go by it won't be destroyed so easily and with what's happening in the colony it'll be forced to launch sooner or later. You won't be able to miss it, it's a massive white ship that's a new type of vessel never seen by the general public.
"The Earth forces Marcus they're nothing but….." Eric tried to protest before Marcus cut him off.
"I know you have no compassion or trust for the Earth forces and frankly I can't blame you given what they've done to your home before you came to Heliopolis and throughout the course of this war. But it's the best way to keep the mobile suit out of the Zaft impersonators hands. "
As much as Eric would have liked to have refuted that point he knew there'd be no point given the obvious circumstances so the teen stay silent whist Marcus brought another yet far more unexpected point.
"Besides you still have friends and family you wish to protect, don't you?"
Silence was the only response Marcus received before continuing. "Then you can think of the machine as a means of keeping them safe. Use it to safeguard those around you feel are worth protecting."
A nearby explosion likely in the form of a grenade was heard from just outside the mobile suits leg.
"Go." Marcus said before Eric got stood on his feet doing his best to ignore the shaking in his legs as he ran towards the machine's skirt armor before climbing atop of it. Blocking the sounds of gun fire sounding off everywhere as he dashed towards to the mobile suit's cockpit.
Weather or not anyone one took notice of him was anyone's guess but by some miracle Eric made it the torso of the Mobile suits before he opened the hatch of flung himself inside as fast as his body would allow him to before closing the hatch.
XXXXX
"Marcus is this really what we have to do?" Inquired Federica who was still reluctant to leave his prized creation in the hands of some seemingly random teenage boy, well maybe not so random anymore if the finale words exchanged between him and Marcus were anything to go by; it certainly would have explained why Marcus decided to go off by himself to the location where two of the five G weapon were being kept.
"Yeah. Hurry and save as many of our personnel as you can and get out of here, the machine's in Eric's hands now."
"Bu-but!"
"Federica, I appreciate your personal feeling towards me, and honestly I was hoping to be with you once this pointless bloodshed was over, but right now we need to make sure there's still some glimmer of hope for the people who are living in the cosmic Era."
"AL-alright." Federica said before getting to flee the facility with whoever she could gather.
XXXXX
(Play "Anna ni issho Datta)
Eric's fingers ran across the keyboard booting up the machines systems until a panel at the far right end in front of the arm controller lit and displayed the shape of a right hang with the word awaiting biometric data signal registration" above it.
The moment Eric laid eyes on it he wasted no time in pressing his hand against the panel and waited a few moments for it to say "biometric data confirmed." Before the rest of the systems started up completely and the four monitors on either side of him, above him, and directly in front of him came on whilst he manipulated the machine to stand up on its feet to its full height and Marcus' last words to him echoed in his mind
"Besides you still have friends and family you wish to protect, don't you?" "Of course, I do but…."
"Then you can think of the machine as a means of keeping them safe. Use it to safeguard those around you feel are worth protecting." "Do you seriously understand what that entails me to do!?" Eric yelled out in frustration at how the entirety situation had ultimately unfolded.
And that's it for the first chapter of the rewritten version of this story sorry it took so long but now for those waiting for the next chapter to A new reason to live I'm gonna work on it now.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter let me know what you think.
