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: So much questions to answer LOL. Keep on reading. :P

GodNo127: Dude, you're giving away the spoilers there! Well, keep on reading.

Shinigami Keitaro: Woah. Another new reader. Thanx for dropping in!

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 20: Rina

Two days later...

It was morning and Xander was still sleeping soundly on the floor of the rooftop. Yvonne and Rina reached the area. Yvonne sighed.

"He's always like this."

"I'll wake him up." Rina said. She then shook Xander. "Xander, wake up. Someone's here to see you."

Seeing Xander still snoring, Rina positioned herself near his ear.

"XANDER! WAKE UUUUUUUUPPP!" she yelled.

Xander instantly woke up, covering his ear. "WHOA! Rina! That hurts!"

"Someone's here to see you." Rina said, pointing to Yvonne. Xander looked at her in surprise. "Yvonne? How did you..."

"I was strolling around town and this lady asked me about a man in black with silver white hair. I couldn't think of anyone else but you." Rina explained.

Xander nods repeatedly. "Oh...okaaay." He returned his attention to Yvonne. "So, how's the homecoming?"

"My dad was happy to see me. Can't say the same about what he told though."

"Is it bad?"

Yvonne nods. "He said the Alliance just completed a mobile suit many times larger and more destructive than anyone ever seen. They'll probably send it out pretty soon."

Xander shivered a few seconds. The thought of going to battle dreaded him. Rina noticed this and pulled him towards the door leading downstairs.

"You promised me to have breakfast, remember? Come on!"

Xander smiled at the ten year old. "Ah, yeah. I did. Come on, Yvonne. Let's have something to eat."

Yvonne smiled and nods. "But first, we need to do something about the little one's dress."

Xander looked at Rina's outfit; a messed up gown. Ragged and tattered. "Uh, yeah..."

Before he could finish, Rina was beaming with joy. "Really? You will buy one for me?"

Yvonne patted her head softly. "Of course I will. We'll get nowhere if anyone sees you in that dress."

"HOORAY!" She then hugged Yvonne. "Thank you, Miss Yvonne!" Yvonne hugged her back, smiling.

Xander smiled and felt warm and fuzzy about the atmosphere around him.

After sorting out Rina's matters, the three had a belated breakfast at a coffee shop. Xander stared at Yvonne and Rina restlessly. Earlier, Rina chose an outfit similar to Yvonne; the one that only royal swordsman will wear. The material wasn't the same as Yvonne's but the style and flair were almost the same.

"Xander, what's wrong?" Rina asked as she munched a slice of cake.

"Eh, ah, nothing..."

Yvonne glared at him. "You have something to say, just spill it. It's not like I'm gonna kill right now anyway."

"Eh, yeah. You won't kill me? Riiiight."

"Don't test me, Darklighter."

"Okay, okay." He breathed in and breathed out. "Seeing you two wearing almost the same outfit, I can't help to think that you two are sisters."

"Sisters?" The two looked at each other. Then, they laughed.

"Is it funny?"

Yvonne shook. "Not at all. I'm glad, actually." Rina looked at her. "Miss Yvonne?"

"I...had a sister but she died a few hours after birth. If she's still alive, she 'll be your age, Rina."

"Miss Yvonne..."

Suddenly, the whole town turned dark. This had caused the residents came out to see what happened. Xander, Yvonne and Rina went out and saw a mobile armor hovering over them. Yvonne gasped.

"That's Destroy Gundam. The one my dad told me..."

"Good grief. How will ZAFT go against that one?"

Suddenly, the Destroy Gundam launched a few rounds laser attacks around the city. Explosions happened and chaos ensued as the town folks frantically ran for cover.

"Quick, let's go to our suits and get the hell out!" Xander yelled amidst the noise.

Yvonne nods and turned to Rina. "Let's go, Rina."

Rina nods. "Em! Let's go!"

A short while later, ZAFT forces appeared to confront the mobile suit but they were easily overwhelmed by the powers of Destroy. The trio didn't have the time to look at the battle as they struggled to make their way out of the city. As they ran, Rina dropped a medallion she's been carrying around. Seeing this, she tracked back towards the place she dropped it.

"Rina!" Xander yelled.

"I have to get the medallion!" she replied.

Xander motioned to Yvonne. "Wait here."

Without waiting for reply, Xander traced his steps towards Rina.

"RINAAAA!"

Then, his sense screamed a warning. A few blasts from Destroy were approaching the place where Rina was.

"RINAAAA!"

Xander leapt forward to at least push her aside but was thrown away by the impact of the blast. He recovered and searched for Rina. To his horror, he found her under the debris. She was still alive, holding the medallion.

"Rina!"

Xander approached her and tried to remove a boulder but failed. Yvonne came over to help but still couldn't remove it. Yvonne held Rina's hand.

"Rina, hang in there. We'll get you out."

"DAMMIT!" Xander cursed as gasped for breath. Rina shook her head.

"It's alright, Xander, Miss Yvonne. I've survived on many occasions. I think my luck has run out..."

"Shut it! Stop pretending to be an adult!" Xander yelled at her as he tried once again to remove the boulder. Rina smiled.

"I'm sorry...I don't think I can last any longer. The rest of my body had gone numb. I couldn't move myself..."

Yvonne held her hand tighter, tears running down from her eyes. "Rina! Don't say that!"

Rina smiled at her. "Can I...call both of you as my sister and brother?" Yvonne nods. Xander did the same as he cursed himself silently.

"Sister...brother...knowing you two...is the best memory...of...my...life..."

Suddenly, Xander remembered one of Claire's last words before she was wiped out by GENESIS.

"Being with you, is the best time of my life."

With that parting words, Rina died. With a smile forming on her face as she's just sleeping. Yvonne cried heavily and kissed her on the forehead. Xander couldn't take it anymore and let out a scream of anguish and hate.

"AAAAAAARGHHHHH!"

He then wiped his tears away and held his sword tighter. He then looked at the Destroy Gundam.

"Yvonne, can you take care of things here?"

Yvonne nods solemnly. "I'll make sure that our sister have a proper burial."

"Thanks."

He then snapped his finger and called his unit.

"DARK STRIKE!"

The Destroy Gundam had transformed into its mobile suit form as it was dealing with both newly arrived Freedom and Impulse. Despite their difference in previous battles, Kira and Shinn worked together pretty well in giving the larger mobile suit a problem. Suddenly, Shinn paused and then prevented Kira from attacking Destroy. Not only that, the Freedom had to deal with Colonel Neo Lorrnoke in his Jet Windam. Xander arrived at the battle scene and pondered his next action.

"Xander, you're here!" Kira's voice echoed.

"Yeah. You keep them distracted. I'll try to cripple off that thing's attacks."

Then, the Dark Strike's Razor Edge wings spread apart like an angel of death and then zoomed in towards the left side of Destroy. Using the sharp wings, Xander did a drive-by and sliced off the fingers of Destroy. Stellar who was piloting Destroy was enraged and attempted to get rid of him. Xander easily avoided her attacks and sliced off another set of fingers. This time on the right side.

His sense tingled and saw the Jet Windam coming at him. Neo fired a few rounds with his beam rifle but Xander easily dodged the attacks. Now he didn't have to think about avoiding a fight. If he gets attacked, the only thing to do is to fight back. He then pulled out his beam saber and both him and Neo clashed.

Inside the Minerva, Lunamaria was watching the battle with the rest of the crew. She watched on the battle between the Dark Strike and Windam. From the way Xander fights, she could see that he was keeping his emotions in control. Unlike the last battle where he went berserk and attacked everyone in sight.

(Xander...)

Xander could feel the change in him. Despite Rina's death, he was still in control of himself. This had enabled him to be on par with the supposedly superior Windam. After exchanging attacks for godknowshowlong, Neo was attacked from behind by the Archangel and was taken out. Xander grinned in satisfaction and turned to the battle between Freedom and Destroy. Seeing that Shinn was acting as if he was siding with the gigantic suit, Xander decided to straighten things up.

"Shinn! What are you doing? You are suppose to support Freedom in taking that monster down!"

"Shut up. You're no longer with ZAFT. And I don't have the obligations to obey you." Shinn replied with contempt. Then, he prevented Freedom from attacking Destroy again. Xander cursed. Then, he approached Impulse and attacked. Shinn avoided the attack.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop thinking about yourself, you stupid fool! I don't care what happened between you and that monster's pilot. The fact is, she killed a lot of innocents!" Xander yelled.

"You...don't have the right to say that about Stellar!"

With that, Shinn turned on his SEED mode and attacked Xander relentlessly. Xander avoided the attacks but he came under intense pressure from Shinn.

(Damn. He really ticked off...)

Xander continuously parried Shinn's beam saber attacks until the younger ace managed to cut off the Dark Strike's left arm. Xander countered with an attack aimed at the area below Impulse's cockpit. Shinn dodged it and thrusted his saber towards the black Gundam's cockpit. Cursing, Xander quickly pulled out a disc containing the technical usage of the unit and ejected from the cockpit. The beam weapon was buried into it and the Dark Strike exploded.

Athrun and Lunamaria were shocked to see the destruction of Dark Strike by the Shinn but didn't say a word about it.

Athrun shook his fist. "Xander. Will you survive again?"

Lunamaria clearly understood why Xander had to engaged Shinn and knew the current situation. This is war. And she have to accept this. However, she believed that Xander survived this.

(Xander, I believe in you...)

On the war-torn city of Berlin, Xander regained his footing and watched the destruction of Destroy Gundam by Kira.

"Congrats, Kira. Glad you got rid of that big pile of junk."

He pulled out the disc from his pocket and sighed.

"Now how in the hell am I gonna send this stuff back to Lowe when I have the Dark Strike blown up by some rookie? Damn that kid. Always acting by his impulse. No wonder he gets to pilot that thing."

"Xander!"

He looked up ahead of him and saw Yvonne was running straight at him.

"Huh? Yvonne..."

"Are you...okay?"

"Me? Of course I'm okay. I barely managed to get out though. How are things around here?"

"Well, as you can see, that thing thrashed this place pretty good."

"How's your dad?"

"He's fine. He managed to escape from the bombardment. By the way, me and other soldiers managed to get Rina's body from the rubble. Do you want to see her for the last time?"

Xander nods silently. "Please. I want to see our sister for the very last time."

Yvonne held his hand as Xander shivered, trying to contain his feelings. "It's alright, Xander. You can cry all you want."

Suddenly, Xander hugged Yvonne, catching her off-guard. Then, she heard him sobbing on her shoulder. She then hugged him in return as they both cried for their newly found but now lost sister.

"Rina..."

To Be Continued...