Hmmm... I only just started reading it, but the fic Gundam SEED Purpose also integrates an AI into a mobile suit...great now I feel unoriginal. If you've read it I'm not going that route with my AI. It will play a kinda ridiculously huge role in character developments for my OC, Kira, Flay, and mostly Lacus. Thats all the hints I'm giving you regarding the future. For now anyway. Without further ado we can begin the story proper. Ladies and gentleman...the beginning of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Blades of the Zealot!

Surechigai isogu tabi ni

butsukeai chigireau

tagai no hane no itami kanjiteiru

samishisa ni yogoreta ude de daita

sore igai nanika wo shiranai kara

tsunagaru shunkan mezameru eien

machikagareru

hayasugiru toki no

matataki ni sarasarete

hitori dewa todokanai

nagai nante kiesou na kotoba ja

karamiau netsu no

tsutaetai shinjitsu wo

darekara mamoreba ii?

kimi ga itsuka hoshikatta omoi ga

soko ni aru nara

Phase 1: False Peace

Year Seventy of the Cosmic Era. Due to the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, tensions between Earth and the PLANTs quickly developed into a full-fledged armed conflict. No one doubted that the larger Earth Forces would be victorious, but these early predictions proved to be wrong. Almost eleven months have passed since the conflict began, with no end in sight.

C.E. 71, January 25- Heliopolis

More bad news. All that ran on the networks was war footage, casualty reports, and propaganda. A few were tired of hearing the words that moved others to fight, filled with hate and despair.

"I swear if I hear one morerepetition of this "Blue and pure world" crap, I'm gonna hurl," a teenager said, closing the video file and turning to his companion.

His friend paid him no heed, typing rapidly with one hand while glancing at a notepad held in the other. Shaking his head, the first teen resumed typing as well, his notepad next to his laptop. He didn't look up when a mechanical bird landed on his head, before hoping over to his friends laptop.

"Tori?" it chirped, looking at the typing boys.

"Kira!"

The typists looked up to see a young couple approaching. One shook his head, grinning, and resumed typing. The other smiled softly, and awaited their approach. The two stood in front of the small pavilion looking inside.
"Ah Ryu's with you too! We don't have to look for him now!" the boy outside said.

The girl jabbed him playfully with an elbow.

"Lazy."

He grinned back before looking at the two in the pavilion again.

"Anyway Professor Kato's looking for you two."

One of them groaned, collapsing on his laptop.

"Not again...that guy needs to start doing his own work..."
"He's asked us to bring you to him immediately," the girl said with an unrepentant grin.

"Any chance you could...forget you saw us?" the collapsed one muttered.

"Hmmm...nope, sorry Ryu but you're not getting out of work this time."
Ryu looked at the girl.

"Mir...you have a serious sadistic streak. You do know that right?"
He was forced to dodge a paper ball thrown at his head.

"Tolle! Save me from your girlfriend! She's gonna kill me paper this time! I just know it!"

All four of them burst out laughing at his antics, Mir throwing another paper ball at him, which connected. He gripped the spot it hit, and with a look of mock horror, collapsed dramatically.

"All right, all right, you can stop Mir. You know that once he gets going, he won't stop. Besides, he's just wasting time so he doesn't have to see the Professor...right?" the last was said with a humorously suspicious face towards Ryu.

Ryu's mutter of "Spoilsport" was clearly audible.

"So you two helping him out with something again?" Miriallia asked them both.

"Too much! We're still not done with all the stuff he gave us yesterday!" Kira sighed.

He slumped in his seat, his mechanical bird, (rather unimaginatively Ryu thought) named Birdie hopped an his shoulder. His eyes followed the news report that was in the corner of his screen. Tolle made his way around the table and looked at the screen.

"Some breaking news?"

"Yeah, Kaohsiung apparently."
The news continued to roll.

"If this is footage from last week then Kaohsiung might have fallen by now," Tolle pointed out, seeing the date on the footage.

"Yeah..." Kira mumbled, closing down his laptop.

Mir looked at her boyfriend worriedly.

"Kaohsiung isn't far from us is it? Will the homeland be all right?"

Ryu sighed, shutting down his own laptop.

"Depends. If Kaohsiung fell, the only mass drivers the Earth Forces have left is Victoria and Panama. We know that Blue Cosmos has a lot of pull within the Atlantic Federation, if they thought that Orb's mass driver would be a vital tool for them to win the war, then they will try to take it."

"They may be close by, but we're a neutral country, its unthinkable for Orb to become a war zone," Tolle argued.

Ryu snorted running his hands through caramel gold hair.

"Orb is home to both Coordinators and Naturals. Blue Cosmos would look at it as a "liberation." Hatred heeds no boundaries."

The other three looked at him. His anger at Blue Cosmos was well known, and justified. His parents and younger sister were on Junius Seven. While he could have blamed everyone on Earth for his loss, like a lot of others did, he knew where to put the blame. Hatred itself, personified in Blue Cosmos.

Looking at them with emerald eyes, he saw the somber mood he had caused. Smiling at them softly he stood up.
"Lets go, and get this over with."

(Quick note here: I'm not covering any other perspectives until it becomes relevant or new. I was, but it would just be rehashing what happened, and my OC changes nothing yet.)

The walk to the car port was uneventful. What was going on there, however was cause for Ryu to get a big grin on his face. Flay Allster was chatting with her friends. Grin in place, he glanced at Kira, who had a pretty big crush on the redhead. Snippets of the conversation were audible.

"I'm telling you! Its nothing like that!" Flay protested.

"Really?" one of her friends (he never could remember her name) drawled.

"You're lying," the other said teasingly.

One should note at this point that although Ryu is very much straight...he is very awkward with girls. He can put on a good front and be a great guy to hang around with, but it eats at his nerves, leaving him drained. Thats why he doesn't know many girls.

"Why don't you just come out and admit it?" the first said.

"Yeah," the other chimed in, double teaming the girl.

"Look, I told you..." Flay said, giggling a little.

She looked up and saw the group coming their way.

"Oh! Miriallia!"

"Hey," Mir said, walking up to her.

The other two girls stepped in front of her.

"I'll bet you know Miriallia," one said.

"Know what?" Mir asked, obviously confused.

"Come on, drop it..." Flay pleaded.

"She got a letter from Sai Argyle. She claims nothings going on and won't tell us anything."
Through all of this Ryu just grinned, watching Kira. Real-life drama...so much better than TV.

"Will you just stop?" Flay stated a little more forcefully.

There was a cough from behind Ryu and Kira. Looking back, a woman in a suit and shades with two men stood behind them.

"If you're not getting in, mind if I do?" the woman asked politely

"Oh, my apologies ma'am. Please," Ryu stepped out of the way.

The trio walked past, and Flay glared at her friends.

"Whats the big deal anyway? Come on, lets go!" she started off, the other two asking her to wait.

"Lets go to Ralsvey's first before we go shopping. They may still have those limited-time parfait rolls."

They drove off, towards the nearest shopping complex. Ryu shuddered. Girls in shopping mode...the scariest thing he could think of. Shaking that off he glanced at Kira again, who he noticed was watching Flay.

"So, Sai wrote a letter?" he drawled, enjoying every bit of Kira's reaction, "To Flay Allster no less? My my my, what a shock. I could never had seen that coming!"
Kira looked a little uncomfortable.

"You, my friend have some competition! May you emerge victorious in this duel over a maiden! YOSH!" Ryu cried, pumping his hand in the air.

Mir slapped him in the back of the head.

"Baka."

XXxxXX

"Ask him."
"No."
"Ask him."
"No."

"Hey Kira."
"What?"
"Ask him."
"ARGH!"

Mir slapped Ryu upside the head again.

"Whats the problem? If you don't, I will," Ryu said, rubbing his head.

"Ryu..."
"Yeah?"
"You're being a pain in the ass."
"Yes! I got Kira to swear today! Pay up Koeing!"

Mir shook her head. Her boyfriend and Ryu were total goofs. She honestly didn't know how Kira and Ryu were so close, they only knew each other for the past year. Where Kira was quiet and soft spoken, Ryu was loud, boisterous, and loved playing around. Maybe...they balanced each other out. Ryu got more extreme reactions out of Kira than anyone else, and Kira could get Ryu to calm down and think when others couldn't. One thing for certain, Ryu loved life. He cherished it, because all he could do for his loved ones is be the best he could be. The world would be a sad place if the fire ever went out behind his eyes. She shuddered. Where did that thought come from?

XXxxXX

The door to Kato's lab slid open.

"Yo!" Ryu called.

Sai peered from around a bulky machine in the back of the room.

"Ah, Kira, Ryu. You finally made it."
Kira winced a little when Ryu elbowed him in the side, reminding him of what was said in the car. He looked around, noticing two things out of place.

"Hey Sai, where's Kuzzey?" he asked, heading to the terminal where Sai was now sitting.

"Sick, he resting at home."

"And who's that?" Ryu pointed at the person on the wall.

"Some guest of the professors. Was told to wait here I think."

Kira stood next to him.

"So, wheres the prof?"

"He's not back yet, a couple things came up at Morgenroete."
Sai went over to a desk and picked up two data cards.

"He handed me these. Its extra stuff."
"Awww man..." Ryu groaned, Kira echoing the sentiment.

"Whats on them? Some work for Morgenroete?"

"Not really, its to improve the frame setup module." Kira said, looking at his copy.

"Its a program analysis. He thinks the two of us can spot something he can't."

"We usually do."
"I know, because we pointed a few things once the guy gives us stuff to help out his own work," Ryu looked at Kira, "I still wanna demand we get paid."
"Ryu..." Kira said admonishingly.
"This stuffs not college level! This is pro work, from the boys at Morgenroete! If we're helping on a professional level, then I want a professional paycheck!" Ryu said stubbornly.

Kira shook his head and turned back to Sai. Ryu took this chance to put him in a headlock.

"More importantly, ask him!"

"No!"
"Ask him, Kira!"

"No way!"
"Ask me about what?" Sai asked, looking at the two.

"The letter!" Ryu said, holding a struggling Kira in his grip.

"Letter?" Sai queried.

"N-no! Its nothing," Kira said, jabbing an elbow into Ryu's stomach, forcing him to ease his grip a little.

Ryu instantly tightened his grip, grinning.

"Its NOT nothing!"

"What is it? Did you send me another prank letter, Ryu?"
"NO! And I meant to send that one to Tolle! I explained that already! OW!"

Mir slapped him on the head again.

"You sent that one to Tolle? What did it say?"
The other two boys backed away from Ryu, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

"Well...in one of my more 'jerk' moments..."
'Oh crap, he's actually going to tell her?!'

"I sent a letter posing as needy teenage girl with a crush...the best and most vile and disgusting thing I ever wrote!"

SLAP!

And now Ryu was on the ground, with a massive bump on the head. The other boys sighed.

"Baka..."

XXxxXX

Ryu carefully extended his arm in the air.

"Question."
Kira looked up from the terminal.

"What?"
"Anyone have some aspirin?"
The other three youths snickered. Ryu pouted, looking even more ridiculous in the power armor he was strapped in. Moving with caution, he heard Kira typing rapidly as he fixed problems with the interface. The ground shook, and a distant rumble was heard. The floors instability knocked Ryu to the ground.

"What?! Is this beat on Ryu day back home or something?!"
He landed face first. Luckily the chest protruded far enough to prevent his face from hitting the floor.

"What was that? A meteoroid?" Sai exclaimed, grabbing the shaking equipment.

"Whatever it was, do you think you could get me out of this thing?!" Ryu shouted.

His friends helped him out of the suit.

"Ow..." he said, rubbing his chin.

It bled a little for hitting the armor so hard.

"We should get to the shelters, just in case," Mir said, worriedly.

They made their way to the elevators, the shaking continuing the whole way.

'If it was just a meteoroid, there would only be the one explosion. Why is there several?' Ryu pondered to himself.

By the elevators, the whole building shook and the lights flickered out

"Whats going on?" Mir asked, looking the ceiling.

Sai and Ryu went to the stairwell, opening the door. A line of people was making its way up the stairs.

"Whats going on?" Ryu asked them nearest of them.

"I don't know!" the first one said, hurrying up the stairs

The second gave them a panicked look.

"We're under attack by ZAFT! Some of their mobile suits are in the colony!"

"ZAFT?!" Ryu gasped.

The person with them, the guest from the lab gasped, and ran off down the hallway. Everyone else started heading for the stairs.

"Hey, wait!" Kira called starting after whoever it was.

"Kira!" Ryu shouted as the building shook even harder than before.

"I'll be right back!" Kira yelled back, resuming the chase.

"The hell with that! You three get going! I'll keep an eye on him!" Ryu growled, running after Kira.

Kira caught up to the runner, just as Ryu caught up to them both. The person started grunting, trying to get Kira off.

"What are you doing? Its a dead end that way," Kira said, gripping the runners arm.

"Stop tailing me! You'd better get out of here and hook up with your friends."
"Well ones right here, and sorry but we're aren't the type to let someone wander off in an emergency."

An explosion came from behind them, the hallway collapsing. The force of the blast knocked off the runners hat, revealing a blonde girl with brown eyes.

"You're a...a girl?!" Kira stuttered.

The girl glared at him.

"Yeah, what'd you think I was?" she demanded icily.

"You know, if you were supposed to be in disguise, why get pissed at it working so well?" Ryu said.

Another explosion caused all three to looked down the hallway.

"Go back now. I need to check something. On my own," the girl ordered, turning around.

"Uh, you did see the debris blocking the way, right little miss sunshine?" Ryu asked sarcastically.

She shot a glare at him.

"Hold on...here, this way!" Kira said, grabbing the girls arm and running down a nearby hallway.

"Let go of me you jerk!" the girl protested.

"Jerk?" Kira mumbled.

"Hey! Thats my title! No fair!"
"Ryu?"
"Yeah?"
"Serious time now. Shut up."
"Yes boss."

The girl shook her head as she ran.

"Bakas..."

"Hey!" they protested.

"I just...never thought we'd get involved..." the girl said, still running.

"Don't worry, we'll be okay."

"There should be shelters left in the factory district," Ryu stated from behind them.

"Exactly."

They saw a lit up doorway at the end of the hall, they put on a little more speed to reach it.

Emerging out into the light after the dark hallway they had to blink a few times to readjust their vision. What they saw below them made them freeze.

"Mobile suits...what the hell are they doing here?" Ryu gasped.

Below them were two mobile suits, unlike anything they'd seen before. Fires burned all around the warehouse and weapons fire echoed throughout the building. The girl fell to her knees.

"I knew it..." she wailed.

Kira and Ryu looked at her.

"The Earth Forces new mobile weapons," she grated out.

"Earth Forces?!" Ryu and Kira exclaimed.
"FATHER YOU"VE BETRAYED US ALL!" she screamed.

A soldier below heard her and aimed her gun up at them. Ryu yanked the girl away from the railing. Her shots went wide. Kira grabbed her hand and took off running again.

"Come on!"

They ran, away from the sound of weapons.

"Cryings not going to help you. Run!" Kira told her.

They made it to the shelters, two of them had the fully loaded signs above them, but one was still usable. Kira slammed the call button.

"Is someone still out there?" a voice called over the intercom.

"Yes me and my friends need to get in. Please let us in!"
"Three?! Sorry kid, but we're full up. There's shelter thirty-seven in the left block, can you make it there?"

Ryu and Kira gave each other a nod.

"Please, take one of them at least. She's just a girl."
"...okay. Sorry kid."
The door opened up, and Kira pushed the girl into the elevator.

"What are you...I can't just..."

"Just get in will ya? We'll go to the other side. We'll be fine, okay?"

She looked at the two of them. They gave her a smile of reassurance.

"Hurry!" Kira said, shoving her in and letting the door shut.

"Wait! Don't do it!" she cried as the elevator sank out of sight.

"Okay, we gotta move Kira."
They took of running down the walkways again. The guns were still going off. They heard voices yelling.

"Lieutenant Ramius!"

"Hamana! Brian! Get them started!"

Ryu saw a ZAFT soldier about to snipe someone on top of one of the mobile suits. Kira saw it too.
"Look out! Behind you!" Kira yelled.

The person, a woman, turned and fired, hitting the would-be sniper. Kira and Ryu stopped near the hallway they came out of, Looking down on the scene. Someone near the woman was gunned down, and she shot at the gunmen with her pistol. She looked up at them.

"Get down here! Now!"

"We're heading to the shelters in the left block, never mind us!" Kira called back.

"Theres nothing left behind that door!" she countered.

Ryu looked further down the walkway to where they were going. An explosion ripped through the doorway, proving the point. Ryu staggered away from Kira, and a secondary explosion blew right in front of him, throwing him back into the hallway.

"Ryu!" Kira screamed.

"I'm okay 'cough' you get out of here! I'll 'cough' find another way out! " Ryu called back, trying to see through the inferno separating them.
"You better be okay!" Kira called back, knowing that it was stupid trying to get through those flames.

"Kira, its me we talking about here! GO!" And with that, Ryu dashed back down the hallway. There was only one route, the one not blocked by debris or fire. He emerged into another factory, with a mobile suit in it.
"Okay, made it this far...." he mumbled.

There was no way down from here, but the mobile suit was right underneath him...

Without a second thought he leapt over the railing, landing on the mobile suit below. A gun went off near him, and he fell over, trying to find cover. He looked up, seeing a woman covered in blood in front of him.

"Not...ZAFT...child?" she murmured.

"Hey! Are you okay?" he said, rushing over to her.

'Stupid question genius...blood equals NOT okay.'

"Get...Zealot...can't...let...ZAFT..."
"Zealot? He queried, looking over her injuries, trying to see if he could do anything.

Not good, the head gash looked bad, and she had several bullet wounds in her legs.

"G-weapon...get...it...out..."
The cockpit for the mobile suit opened up. She looked at him.

"Please...help..."

She passed out.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

He looked around, there was nothing he could use to get her out of here safely. Except...

"In we go," he snarked to himself.

He gently lowered her into the cockpit, and got behind the controls.

"Lets see...startup switch...bingo!"

He pressed it. The displays came alive, brightening as power flowed through them. Fiddling with the controls, he managed to get it upright. Suddenly he heard rumbling, and the whole back of the warehouse exploded, orange flame rushing towards him.

There we go. Phase One. The chapters shouldn't ever be much shorter than this, because the battles will take up more space and there was no fight that I got into this time. Yes, I wrote Kuzzey out of the story. Will he be back? Maybe later. But not now. Hopefully I wrote Ryu in well enough. He'll make a bigger impact later. By the way, I want you all to remember this for when the time comes. I AM A KIRA/LACUS FAN. Please remember that. The woman with Ryu...what does she know about Zealot? Who is she? Why am I asking you people? I don't know yet either!

Next time: Its Name Is Gundam