Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

The New Coordinate

Story:
AU of GSD. Xander Darklighter, a ZAFT ace pilot was thrown into a string of events that will test his skills, resolve, courage and determination. Which side will he choose to fight with? How will he deal with the events unfolding before him?

Notes:
ChibiRulz: This story is AU with a few OCs thrown in. Of course I can't make my own OCs owns everyone else and have some demi-god powers that will change the world. If I do that, it will certainly thrills you to no end but I'll probably get a hiding from other readers. :P

Unlike Kira, Athrun and Shinn, Xander's contribution towards the main storyline matters little to the rest of the world. But this is HIS story and he is the main star regardless of the main plot. This is a story about a man who experienced many things in life, searching his place in the world as he walks on a fine line between life and death. Between commitment and freedom. Between redemption and forgiveness.

And yeah, the conversations were a little troublesome to me because I have to rely on the reviews supplied by MAHQ. Sorry if some of the dialogs caused some confusion to you. Thanx for the long comment. I really appreciate it a lot. Gives me more motivation to go all the way.

GodNo127: Nice to see another new reader. And sorry if this story is kicking your ass. :P

Oh, that part where Xander summons his Dark Strike was a tribute to Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Their characters do that a lot.

Thanx for the reviews. Keep 'em coming!

I don't own GSD, their characters or anything else aside from Xander Darklighter, Claire Whitestar and Yvonne Norman.

Chapter 18: The Berserker Awakens

Lunamaria handed in the report on the task and a few pictures she took from the meeting between Athrun, Xander, Kira, Cagalli and Miriallia. Talia didn't seem to surprise on hearing about the pilot of the Dark Strike Gundam.

"So, Xander indeed survived the explosion and in possession of one of the most dangerous weapon in the world. I appreciate the support he gave a few times but why couldn't he just say it?"

"He...have his own reason, ma'am."

Talia smiled at Lunamaria. "I'm sure he is."

At some unknown island, sounds of blade clashing could be heard as Xander and Yvonne were having a spar with their weapons. Xander, with his Wolf's Blade was defending his female partner's attack. Yvonne was using a thin rapier she's been carrying around. After dueling for almost a half hour, Yvonne managed to dispossessed Xander's sword from his grip. Xander surrendered the moment the tip of the rapier was appointed at his throat.

"Okay, okay. I give in. No need to take it too far."

"Hm? You think I'm not capable of killing you?" Yvonne sneered.

"I didn't say that."

She sheathed her weapon and walked away. "A mobile suit duel. Remember that."

Xander sighed. "Aye, aye."

"If you two done dueling it out, I just got some info." Jess said from the cockpit of his Out Frame.

"What kind of info?" Yvonne asked.

"Seems that the Alliance and Orb armada moved again. This time it's Crete." he replied.

"Minerva, no doubt. Persistent bastards." Xander cursed.

Yvonne glanced at Xander. "What will you do?"

"I'm going, no doubt. Jess won't want to miss this."

Jess laughed. "Yeah. There's no way. I mean, NO WAY I'm gonna miss it."

Condition red was issued on Minerva as the ship prepared for mobile suit battle against the Alliance again. Lunamaria started up her ZAKU and waited for the order to launch. She looked at the picture of Xander and Claire she had since Xander was declared M.I.A.

(Xander. Will he come out for this battle?)

"Let me enjoy this freedom I'm having a little more. Being involved in some major war is the thing that I'm worried most."

She smiled and shook.

(No, he probably won't. But I believe that we will meet again.)

Xander, Jess and Yvonne arrived at a nearby inlet on the island to see the battle. The Orb fleet managed to deal Minerva the early blow by using Type 8 incendiary shells which caused its shrapnel to penetrate the target and damaged the hull. A short while later, Shinn launched to form Blaster Impulse Gundam followed by Athrun's Savior and both Lunamaria and Rey in their ZAKU units. Xander tightened his grip on his sword and Yvonne noticed it.

"Something's bad gonna happen. I can feel it." he said. Yvonne touched his hand gently.

"I feel that too. But we shouldn't rush things. Let's see what happens."

Minerva and its crew barely coped with the pressure mounted upon them. After smashing many of Orb's suits, Auel in his Abyss Gundam attacked. Athrun meanwhile, was fighting off Sting's Chaos Gundam while the three Murasames focused their attacks on Minerva. One of them managed to slip through and was about blast the bridge off until Kira in his Freedom Gundam took out its rifle. Later, Cagalli came in and again demanded the Orb armada to retreat and told not to forget of Orb's ideal and be the dog of the Alliance. What she said somehow angered Shinn and he attacked with a round of missiles. Kira moved in and intercepted the attack. He then proceed to attack Impulse but Shinn managed to dodge the saber attack. Shinn countered with his beam javelin and Athrun came in and attacked Kira. Kira easily avoided them and he and Athrun were having an argument.

Xander sighed silently. "So, it is all come to this..."

Sting decided to take this advantage to eliminate them both but Kira reacted quickly by slicing off the arms and gunpods. Auel then jumped out of the water and fired its cannons at Impulse but Shinn detached it's blaster pack and it exploded as the beams hit it. Using this precious little time, Shinn threw his javelin and Abyss and it penetrated its cockpit, killing Auel instantly. Then, the Abyss sank and exploded.

Suddenly, Xander's sense tingled. "No, this feeling again..." he muttered.

Both Jess and Yvonne looked at him. "Xan, you okay man?"

Then, he yelled. "LUNAMARIA!"

Jess and Yvonne looked at the change to Xander. His eyes turned to ghostly white. Then, he vanished. Like the wind.

"What is THAT? A ghost?" Jess mumbled. Yvonne didn't reply but looked at the battlefield ahead.

"The White Berserker has awakened." she finally said.

Shinn already recharged his Impulse and was using the force pack to wreck havoc to the Windams. The Murasame trio attempted another round at Minerva but was interrupted by Cagalli. But despite her words, she was thrown away and the trio proceeded their attacks.

At the bridge, Meyrin detected some movements on the water. "I detected some movements on the water. It is not a mobile suit nor mobile armor but it is approaching in fast."

"Can you get a visual on it?" Talia asked and Meyrin brought it up to the screen. To their astonishment, they could see Xander was running on the surface of the water. Because he was running so fast, his visual disappeared quickly.

"What on earth is THAT?" Arthur stammered.

After getting Cagalli out of their way, the Murasame trio attacked with their missiles and damaged Minerva further and taking out Lunamaria's ZAKU Warrior.

Xander had reached the upper deck where the Blaze ZAKU Phantom was. Rey looked at him for a while but then he was forced to defend himself from further attacks from Orb's suits. Xander resumed his run and finally reached the other side and looked in horror to see the red ZAKU was badly damaged.

"LUNAMARIA!" He then forcefully opened the cockpit hatch to see Lunamaria was unconscious and wounded heavily. He carefully pulled her out and put her on the floor.

"Lunamaria! Do you hear me? Lunamaria! Respond, dammit!" Xander cursed as his eyes turned to its normal state. Lunamaria slowly opened his eyes. She smiled as her hand moved towards his face.

"Xan...der...you...came...to see...me..."

Then, she lost consciousness. By this time, Aves and his crew had reached the deck and they were shocked to see Xander. But he didn't have time to explain.

"Can you...take care of her?"

Aves nods. "Don't worry, Darklighter. We'll take care of her."

Xander turned to Youran and Vino. Both of them nod.

"Thanks. If you excuse me, I have a score to settle. He then snapped his finger as he shouted.

"DARK STRIKE!"

The system on the Dark Strike turned on automatically after it detected the matching frequency of Xander's voice. It then spread its wings and flew towards the battlefield. Jess smiled as Yvonne remained silent.

"No wonder he was shouting all night. I have got to ask him make something like that for my Out Frame."

"The White Berserker. Let us see what you are capable of." Yvonne said to herself.

The appearance of the Dark Strike near Minerva caused everyone to gasped in surprise and astonishment.

"Xander?" Athrun stammered but focused on his battle with Kira. Savior and Freedom went at it for a while but with quick and deadly precision, Kira sliced off each part of Savior, leaving the cockpit in one piece. Kira then stopped for a while as he and Cagalli watched at what will Xander do.

Xander got inside his unit and turned on the Phase Shift Armor. Then, his eyes turned white again as he zoomed in towards the ones that responsible in wounding Lunamaria.

"DAMN YOU!" He pulled out his red beam saber and within seconds, he took the Murasame trio out, killing their pilots instantly. Cagalli gasped at his display of violence towards her own countrymen. Then, Xander turned his attention to the Orb fleet and approached them. His mind was bend on destroying them until Freedom blocked his path.

"Stop it, Xander!"

"Kira, don't get in my way! I'm warning you!" Xander shouted.

"Xander, if you want to destroy them, you have to get through me."

Kira was surprised to see Xander's evil smile on his face. "Fine then! LET'S DANCE!"

With that, both Freedom and Dark Strike went at it. Shinn was distracted by the battle for a while but came to his senses and did what Xander had intended to do. Destroying the Orb fleet. Using the sword pack, the Impulse sliced and diced the entire armada including the flagship, Takemikazuchi. Then, his attention returned to the battle between Freedom and Dark Strike. Both Xander and Kira were already in their SEED mode and equally matched. However, Xander knew Kira's Freedom was superior than his Dark Strike. Sooner or later, he'll be on the losing side. But he didn't care about it. After numerous exchanging blows with their beam sabers, Kira called him.

"Xander! Stop it! We don't have to fight!" Kira pleaded.

"Shut it! You're the one who interfered!" he retorted.

As the two took a moment to catch their breath, a female voice called out to Xander.

"Xan. Xan...please don't give in to your emotions...Xan..."

Upon hearing it, Xander recovered his senses and shook his head. "Claire..."

"Xander?" Kira commed in and relieved to see Xander returned to his normal state.

Xander looked away after realizing what he had done. "Kira...I'm sorry...please say to Cagalli that I'm sorry..."

"Xander..."

Then, he turned around and left the battlefield with tears in his eyes.

"I'm really sorry..."

To Be Continued...