Athrun Zala's POV: Becoming the Gundam Pilot

Story Begin: Everything felt odd as you awoke in the morning. Without opening your eyes, a peculiar sensation swept across you, like chills prickling your skin. You squint your eyes open and gaze around, taking in strange sights. The familiar coziness of your bedroom was gone. Instead, a mass of metal controls and screens surrounded you, pulsating with a soft, electronic hue. Looking at your hands, you noticed your fingers are slightly leaner, and your skin is a shade darker than you remember. With a gasp, you tug at your clothing and find yourself clad in an unfamiliar navy-blue jumpsuit accented with red and white, its material heavy yet oddly comfortable. Your heart pounded wildly. What was happening? Panicking, you fumbled with the controls before you. A screen flickered to life, and for a moment, you breathed a sigh of relief. Something familiar, something from your world! However, your relief quickly turned into shock as the face that appeared on the screen wasn't yours. The emerald eyes, azure hair, and chiseled features weren't unfamiliar, though. You've seen this face countless times, watched it on repeated reruns of a certain anime Gundam SEED Destiny. His name? Athrun Zala. Impossible. This couldn't be happening. Yet, the reflection staring back at you, the uniformed attire, the colossal robot cockpit didn't leave much room for disbelief. A second wave of vertigo hit you. It wasn't just a new body. Your mind was plagued with memories you haven't lived, voices you haven't heard, and faces you haven't met. The life you knew began to fade, replaced with vivid memories of Athrun's life. Your mind filled with memories of battles fought, alliances made, and companions lost. Knowledge of piloting mobile suits, strategies for combat, the scarred history of the Cosmic Era... these all flooded your mind. You knew things about the Gundam world that you hadn't before, facts beyond the constraints of the anime plot. The exploration of space, the treaties of Junius Seven, the Independence War, everything came to you as naturally as your own past. You felt a firm determination rise, enclosed by a tranquil sense of duty. It was as if Athrun's personality and core character traits were merging with the essence of your being. More than anything else, it was the sense of being Athrun that really pulled you. His intensity, his admirability, all seeping into you until you couldn't tell where you ended and Athrun began. "Athrun Zala," you called out, the voice that echoed, deeper and richer than your own, sent more shivers down your spine. Your heart pounded again, yet slower, calmer this time. That's when you realized the reality of it all. You were Athrun Zala. You lived in his world, breathed as he did, thought as he did. As the cockpit roared to life around you, you felt excitement rather than fear. Your hands moved effortlessly over the controls, a testament to the skills that now belonged to you. Your newfound life was yours to live. Here it was — the incredibly vivid Gundam world, a whole new realm of endless possibilities. And you... You were no longer an observer. You were Athrun Zala, ace pilot, soldier, diplomat, survivor. And you were ready to fill those shoes, ready to face whatever destiny had to offer. With a thunderous roar, you propelled yourself into the cosmic sky, ready to create your new reality. Story End.