"Who are you?" was the first thing that pop in Athrun's mouth
"It's okay," the long pony tail guy replied, "but right now you better get some rest."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Alright then," he replied, "the name is Duo, and over here is Trowa," he pointed at the guy who is leaning at the wall with his hair covered his right eye, " and the small fry here is Quatre." Duo pointed at the blonde who is sitting down near the computer.
"Is hard to believe that you are the son of the infamous Patrick Zala," Quatre looked at Athrun, "but then you should never judge a book by its cover."
"Uh…" Athrun found these people a little weird, "where am I?"
"Right now you're in a top secret battle ship and you are place as a prisoner," Trowa moved towards him, "along with your other friends in the school."
"Wait a minute," Athrun remembered, "you're the ones that attack us with the sleeping gas!"
"I'm impress you remembered," Duo said sarcastically, "no duh! Kids these days…"
"Just ignore him," Quatre chuckled lightly, "he's just joking with you."
"You're luck that you are in here anyway kid," Duo face turned serious, "because if we left you there, you would have been dead."
"Are you from the CN alliance?" Athrun asked hesitantly
"What do you think?"
Athrun then took out a gun that is hidden in his shoe and pointed at Duo's forehead. But Duo just stands there and gave Athrun a confident grin.
"You really think that will get you out of there?" Duo replied, "and aren't you curious what is project Gundam, Athrun Zala of ZAFT?"
"You'll show it to me?" Athrun said getting ready to pull the trigger
"Only if you give me the gun," Duo replied, "now are you going to cooperate," then Athrun notice that Trowa took out his gun out of nowhere and pointed it at his head, "or going to commit suicide?"
"Fine," Athrun growled and lend his gun to Duo, "you have it your way…"
"Good," then he took out a transparent bracelet from his pocket, now wear this to you wrist."
"What is this for?"
"So if you are doing anything suspicious," Duo replied and takes out a remote, "I'll press this button and inject poison to you and will kill you in 5 seconds."
"But that looks like a car remote."
"Well it isn't," Duo called, "now wear it kid."
Athrun looked at the bracelet and wears it; it turned green once he wore it. He tried to take it off, but it was stuck to his skin.
"Oh yeah," Duo replied, "It turns green if coordinators wore that and it's permanently attached to the skin. And the only way to remove it is this remote."
"Strange device." Athrun replied, "but before we go, where are my friends?"
"You're friends are still sleeping," Duo replied and the door opened automatically, "but one of your friends is piloting one of the Gundams. But then I think he doesn't have a choice since Heero is there and I bet he was forced to do it."
"Who is it?" Athrun ask as he, Duo and Quatre walk down the hall
"If I remembered his name was Kira." Quatre pondered
"What?" Athrun was shocked to hear that Kira was the pilot
"By the sound of that tone, you seem surprised."
"Is just that… he never pilot a mobile suit bef—."
But then the two were interrupted by the intercom, "All personnel report to the dock immediately," it was a girl's voice, "I repeat, report to the dock." Athrun looked around and notice that the crews are moving toward the end of the hall and to his surprise, they were wearing both EA and ZAFT uniforms.
"What's wrong?" Quatre asked
"Is just that is unusual to see people wearing different uniforms," Athrun said, "I mean ZAFT and the alliance working together."
"These are the people that set aside their difference and decide to work together to end this war," Duo replied, "other than that they are refugees, escaping from their former army."
"I see…" then Athrun start to wonder if this was a dream again.
"Other than that we don't have our own uniforms…." Duo chuckled
"What a strange bunch…." Athrun murmured to himself
XXX
Heero manage to get in the ship safely and as soon he got out of his ship the crew start to get in and start working on fixing on the almost broken ship. He then went up to the control room and salute at the Supreme Commander.
"Heero Yue at your service Commander Relena." Heero said
"Heero Yue," the young and beautiful commander saluted with her long blonde hair sway as she spins her chair to face him with her chocolate eyes, "I'm glad that you returned safely. But you're orders are to bring the Strike to Meteor 3."
"I know," Heero said, "forgive me, but I can't leave the Archangel here when it needs to be protected."
"I understand," Relena replied and an Earth Alliance commander opened the door, "Commander Murrue."
"Yes commander?" she replied
"I'll leave you in charge of the Archangel while I'm gone," Relena replied, "I have to check the Minerva to see if there is any problems. I have to attend the other ship to take a look at their situation."
"Yes commander," Murrue replied and watched the two went out the door, "what is the situation with the Archangel…"
"We have some problems with the sub engines, but the engineers said they will fix it in about a few minutes and the weapons are still intact."
"That's good…" Murrue replied, "but how about the Strike, I notice that Heero Yue is here and heard the news that the Strike has a pilot."
"Yes it has," one of the people replied, "and right now he's coming in right now."
"What?" Murrue replied, "open the gates as soon as it gets here, and someone has to contact Commander Relena about this now."
"Yes commander."
XXX
"So Heero…" Relena muttered as the two walk quietly in the hall, "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine commander," Heero replied, "how about you?"
"I'm fine," she replied quickly, "say, how's Cagalli doing?"
"She's doing fine…."
"Are you lying?" the two stopped and Relena looked Heero at the eyes, "I mean she is your—!"
"I can't tell them," Heero replied and looked away, "not yet…"
"What do you mean by them? And please don't look away…"
"I met him," Heero replied and looked at her, "and he's piloting the Strike."
"You mean the pilot is…"
"Yes, her other twin…"
XXX
Kira has some difficulty getting to his destination; he has to face a couple of Moebius on the way and getting low on power. But the mobile suit isn't the only one that is getting tired.
"I never knew… you have to do this much workout," Kira panted, "ZAFT must have some harsh training camps to be this good…"
"Pilot of the Strike come in!" a female voice called out in the intercom, "come in Strike pilot! This is the Archangel! Come in Strike Pilot."
"Strike Pilot here," Kira replied, "where is Heero?"
"Heero has some problems to attend," Kira notice it was a girl's voice, "hurry inside before the enemy finds you."
"Right…" Kira replied, "but how do I get in?"
"There is a hidden door in front of you," she replied, "it will open automatically."
Kira waste no time getting in once the door opened. As soon he went inside, he saw these two mighty battle ship, one white and the other black, and the designs are almost similar to each other. Kira must be thinking that these are the ship that Heero was talking about. Archangel and Minerva.
"Alright," the intercom called, "the Archangel will open the doors for you. Just wait for a few moments."
"Right."
Then the white ship starts to open one of its gates and go toward it. As soon as he got in, robotic arms start to grab the Strike's arm and legs. The ship then automatically shuts down and opened the hatch. The light was blinding at first and as soon he has glimpse of the interior of the ship, he saw people working on the Strike. But what got him confused is that there were some that were wearing EA uniforms and some are wearing ZAFT uniforms. He descends down from the Strike…
"Kira!" a familiar voice called
"Athrun?" Kira looked back and it was Athrun along with another person, "hey!"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Kira sighed, "what's going on here?"
"So you're Athrun's friend…" Duo called, "I'm Duo."
"Kira," Kira shake his hand, "say Athrun I have a question."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Did you join ZAFT?" Kira said hesitantly
"Well…"
"I want the truth." Kira interrupted
"Yes," Athrun looked down and took him a moment to answer, "I did…"
"I thought so…" Kira replied, "It took me a while to figure it out. Well first of all, how could you join in when you're a coordinator? But the one that caught me the most is hearing the enemy intercom saying that you are on M.I.A. I don't want to believe it… but then this is war…"
"Kira… Why are you trying to say?"
"You said… you don't like the idea of violence…."
"I…."
"Now tell me why have you joined ZAFT?"
"Kira…" Athrun sighed, "times have changed."
"It has," Kira replied, "and its about to get worst…."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since I went inside that cockpit," Kira looked at the Strike, "I begin to see… visions…. How terrible the war is turning out every second and at the same time thinking about my friends safety… but then I really don't have much of a choice…."
"Kira?"
"I think I should help these guys…" Kira looked up at the Strike, which is back to is gray state, "I know its so sudden… but I feel that I need to."
"What?"
"I mean they said I'm the only one that could pilot them," Kira replied, "Athrun, I hope you understand."
"Kira," Athrun then grabbed him by the collar, "don't let them control you! Snap out—!"
"Athrun," Kira coughed, "I cant… breath…"
"Kira—"
"Let him go!" Duo then grabbed Athrun wrist away and twists it to paralyze him from moving in a few seconds and lets go of Kira, "the Gundam are different from most mobile suits, when my grandfather build the Gundam, he said that it has a mind of its own and was able to give him visions of previous and upcoming wars."
Duo then lets go of Athrun and pushed him back. Athrun shakes off the pain that it was given by Duo. And then he felt a pulse in his heart getting harder all of a sudden, and felt light headed. Then he begins to look back when the time his mother died recently….
Father… can we please play? Father?
I have no times for games Athrun! Those dam natural…
Daddy? Are we going to war with them?
Most likely… Why?
Why should we?
Because naturals are different… different… different…
"Athrun!" Kira called, "Athrun!"
"Kira?" Athrun groaned, "Why do we have to be different?"
"Is this a joke," Kira chucked, "if we are all the same life would be boring. I mean imagine meeting yourself everyday? That—"
"I didn't mean that," Athrun tried to stand up, "I mean why the war always start by difference."
"Is because the people that have the power usually don't accept it," Duo replied, "history always repeat itself."
"This feeling…" Athrun muttered to himself, what's going on here? Why do I keep on getting images?
"The Aegis…" Duo said suddenly and was looking back, "I think it's calling you…."
"The Aegis?" the two asked
"The Strike was created by my friend Heero," Duo explained, "and I created the Aegis. Now…."
"Wait…" Athrun paused, "are you saying that the mobile suit chose me? How is that—?"
"I'll tell you after you get us out of here," Duo replied, "and I'll take care of your ZAFT friends too and let you keep the mobile suit if you do that. Now come on, time's a wasting."
"You're friends are in ZAFT too?" Kira said
"Yeah they are," Athrun replied, "why?"
"They look awkward to be soldiers…."
"Haha," Athrun couldn't help but laugh, "What do you think they are at first?"
"A bunch of comedians," Kira smirked, "I have to admit they are funny."
The two laughed like old friends and forgotten they are in a tough situation, but it was stopped by Duo's cough and showed the other 4 Gundams that are in their gray state. Then Duo pointed at the center left Gundam.
"That's the Aegis," Duo replied, "you better get in kid."
"One more question," Athrun paused, "the ones who build the Gundams, are they coordinators or naturals?"
"Why do you want to know?" Duo asked
"Out of curiosity," Kira took the words out of Athrun's mouth, "now are you going to tell us?"
"The Strike is all set!" one of the workers called, "and we've also installed the Aile pack Duo!"
"That is fine!" Duo shouted back, "If you really need to know, the builders, they are all naturals. Now get in."
XXX
"I don't understand…." the ZAFT captain said from the Vesalius, "where is Commander Creuset?"
"Sorry I'm late," Rau entered from the ship, "I have to meet Council Zala today and recently used the transporter."
"I'm glad that your molecules haven't been deformed yet," the captain replied, "so far we found one mobile suit inside the colony and it manage to take out one of our Ginn."
"Did you get any visuals?" Rau asked
"No… but we manage to pinpoint its whereabouts," he replied, "what do you think we should do?"
"I have a feeling we don't have to," Rau chuckled, "look on the right."
Then all of a sudden a huge beam of light appeared from the right, as the masked man predicted, there was a white ship that was followed by a black one.
"I think that's them," Rau called, "now, let the hunt begin…"
XXX
"Alert! Alert! Enemy ship approaching!" the P.A. called
"Are you ready Athrun?" Kira called from his helmet
"Yeah…" Athrun was wearing a ZAFT uniform that was lend to him and put on his helmet, "just let me check the program… it's not that bad. A few modifications here… there! Finished!"
"Everyone, please evacuate the launch pad! I repeat! Evacuate the launch pad!" the P.A. called, "All hands, prepare for level 1 battle station! I repeat! Level one battle station!"
"Gundam Strike ready," Kira called, I wonder what's Athrun thinking about now? "Launch!"
You shouldn't hate a person because they are different, its natural but I want you not to be like that okay? Promise me Athrun…
Mother… Athrun then remembered something that his mom used to say, "Gundam Aegis, Launch!"
I've done it finally! It took me a while, and this is my longest chapter yet. Oh I forgot to mention that the cast of Gundam Wing are mostly in the 20's and the young SEED castare in between 17 to 18 years of age. More info in the next chapter. Other than that I hope you enjoy this one, so please R & R.
And thanks Inuyasha's Dark Angel for reviewing. I really appreciate it!