第九章「遺されし者達」2
CHAPTER.09 – THOSE LEFT BEHIND (2)

　”Shit! “

　The R-Jarja’s monoeye lit up brightly and the saber it brandished also lit up brilliantly. Its saber cut down the countless missiles that rained upon Ahava Azieru.

　As he mowed down the missiles with miraculous dexterity, Danton recalls a past memory.

　Char Aznable…

　”The Red Comet” considered us family, you say?

　We will never know now if he truly felt that way.

　It could all just be Danton’s own selfish sentiment.

　However, if he truly felt that way, even in the corners of his heart…

　”If it’s true, we can’t die now!”

　If his will was for the both of us to stay alive…

　A flash.

　After splitting the final missile, Danton shouts to his partner behind him.

　”Shoot! Arlette!!”

× × ×

　”Oo… Rahhhhhhhhhh! “

　In response to Arlette’s battle cry, the funnels on the tail of the Ahava Aziel spread out one by one.

　The psycommu. A psycho-wave weapon.

　She was never able to activate it at the Flanagan Institute successfully. So, she was deemed to be incompatible as a pilot and doomed only to wait to be disposed of… until Char Aznable saved her.

× × ×

　The countless funnels that lined up in front of the red mobile armor started to attack the Tristan one by one.

　”You won’t hit me!”

　Quentin quickly hit the control lever as he shouted, but Arlette’s attack was slightly faster.

　”Eurgh!”

　The Tristan, surrounded by the funnels on all sides, was rained upon by countless beams.

　In an instant, a bright light emitted from the explosion of the large machine illuminated the surface of Axis in red.

× × ×

　”Phew…”

　Arlette sinks into the seat of the cockpit of Ahava Aziel after using up all her strength. The psycho-frame stopped glowing, and silence returned to the cockpit.

　”I… used the funnels…”

　Arlette mutters as she stared at her trembling fists. While it was but an instance, it was without a doubt that the psycommu did activate.

　Was it just a miracle caused by a small fragment of memory, or…

　Arlette was overcome with surprise for a moment before she was pulled back into reality by a silhouette that appeared on the screen in front of her.

“?!”

× × ×

　The silhouette of a machine appeared from the center of the explosion. It was the naked body of the Tristan Quentin was piloting. Right before it took the brunt of the funnel’s beams, he purged the Kurwenal, his armed base which was spent on bullets and had become dead weight.

　Quentin smiles boldly as he fixes his eyes on the enemy in front of him.

　”I told you… ‘You won’t hit me.'”

　However, the Tristan was almost at its limit too. The jet plume of its thrusters was so weak that it could disappear at any time, while its various mechanical joints that had been pushed to the limits were throwing off sparks everywhere.

　”Now, let’s end this…”

　Quentin smirks at the mobile suit blocking his way as if it were a white knight defending the massive red mobile armor.

× × ×

　Likewise, Danton moved forward desperately in his worn-out machine.

　Arlette’s spent voice came through the speaker.

　”Dan…ton…”

　”Rest. I’ll take it from here.”

　He smiled as he cut the comms.

　”Let’s…end this.”

　While staring at the Gundam brandishing its beam saber and coming towards him on the monitor, Danton muttered.

　”This will be the last time I kill someone…”

　I need to bring Arlette home…

　Danton brandishes his saber, and the flicker of doubt in his eyes disappears. Both mobile suits slowly brandish their weapons to face each other.

　”…Forgive me, Arlette…”

　As they held their sabers above their head and prepared to slice each other in half…

　”Wait.”

　”?!”

　”!!”

　The silhouette of another machine comes in between and stops them in their tracks.

　It was…

× × ×

　”Walter…”

　Quentin muttered as he acknowledges his younger brother’s machine on his monitor. The Byarlant Isolde also suffered damages as extreme as the Tristan and R-Jarja. A voice mixed with static came through the speaker.

　”We’re out of time, brother.”

　”Non…”

　Quentin was about to bellow, “Nonsense!” but resisted the compulsion at the last minute.

　”If we don’t return to the ship now, we will be space debris along with Axis until the end of time.”

　”…’No, thanks’ to that.”

　The light of the beam saber brandished by the Tristan vanished quietly. At the same time, he acknowledged that the R-Jarja in front of him also sheathed its saber.

　”While there’s life, there’s hope, huh?”

　Quentin snickers at his own bad luck.

　He didn’t expect his own baby brother to come and stop his fight.

　”Did you see it too? What she did?”

　”Uh huh.”

　Walter’s voice through the speaker sounded as calm as always.

　”So, we’re the same as they are…”

　”…It appears so.”

　Now that it has come to this, there is no more meaning to fight them. Now that they empathize with their enemy…

　Quentin recalls the final moments of Axis, which he watched in an archive video in the past. The soldiers of the Federation and Neo Zeon, who had been at each other’s throats moments ago, cooperated to change the trajectory of the falling Axis. It was a sight that had once seemed incomprehensible, but now it seemed somehow understandable.

× × ×

　The Byarlant carried the Gundam as it flew into the abyss of space. Danton and Arlette watched them disappear into the background, feeling perplexed.

　”…Hey, Arlette.”

　”Uh huh.”

　”Why do you think he came to stop us?”

　”I wonder…”

　　If the Byarlant’s control systems had recovered, they could have chosen to take down Danton two against one. Without the funnels, Arlette was no longer a threat, and Danton could not have lasted long. Still, Danton was prepared to bring either one of them down together with him if that happened.

　”But I’m glad that you’re still alive.”

　”I was about to die, though.”

　”Moreover…”

　Arlette continued with a murmur.

　”You didn’t have to kill anyone.”

　”…Arlette…”

　After she said that, Danton realized that he still had his fingers on the trigger.”

　”Oh, yeah, you’re right.”

　Danton slowly released his grip on the lever and stared at his fists.

　That’s right.

　These hands shall never take another soul.

　”Let’s go home.”

　”Yeah. We’ve got lots of laundry piling up from our regulars.”

　They saw the landing craft, which Mehmet and his party were on, coming out of the port. In the distance, the huge body Sazabi lingered in silence. Axis would probably leave its orbit and disappear into the abyss of space.

　Arlette looked back and bid a humble farewell to the man she once looked up to and would never meet again.

　”Farewell, Captain.”