FINAL.CHAPTER – AND TIME KEEPS ON SPINNING (2)
最終章「そして時は紡ぎゆく」2

　A lone elec-car sped along the path, clinging to the colony’s outer wall. The vehicle’s motor was top-notch, and a pleasant hum tickled Arlette Hyleg’s ear. She decided she would tinker with the suspension next Sunday as well. Danton would probably shake his head disdainfully and question why she was tuning a dry cleaner’s delivery car to its limits. But she didn’t care. Mastima would probably be paying them a big reward, so perhaps she could even take the chance to replace the battery.

　Arlette turned the steering wheel in high spirits, humming along to the classic tunes playing on the car radio. Dressed in a fresh, clean white dress, she had cut away most of the hair that she had previously worn braided and was sporting a short cut that rested at her shoulders. The expression on her face, too, carried a somewhat more refined, adult expression compared to previous years. It had been a week since she had returned from Axis and resumed her job as a cleaner. And her sense of time, which had previously come to a halt, felt like it was slowly grinding into motion once more.

　She started to see fewer and fewer buildings on both sides of the road until finally, the car entered the recreational area where the natural park was located. Ordinarily, you would never have seen the temperature changing with the seasons in a colony. But there on Riah, the four seasons were artificially recreated through moderating the temperature and the colony’s exposure to sunlight. The calendars currently showed that the colony was in spring. And the trees at the side of the road were covered in fresh leaves.

　Climbing a gentle slope, the elec-car came to the top of a hill with an impressive view. An artificial lake stretched out before Arlette, its surface twinkling as it reflected the sunlight streaming in through the colony’s outer windows. It had been her favorite spot ever since she had moved to Riah. It was the middle of the week, so many people were likely working, and the area was mostly deserted. Pulling onto the road’s shoulder and coming to a stop, Arlette exited the vehicle and walked towards the lakeside at a leisurely pace.

　When she arrived, she leaned her body against the wooden fencing, gazing at the lake for a few moments. Arlette loved the scenery there. Spending her childhood in a facility and her early adult life mostly holed up in labs, she had very few memories of being able to connect with the natural world. Of course, the scenery before her was far from a work of nature, and was little more than an imitation crafted by human hands. Still, for Arlette, it was something of a novelty.

　A gentle breeze rippled across the surface of the water, and the tips of her now shoulder-length hair tickled her cheek pleasantly. Brushing away the stray ends of her hair, Arlette smiled to herself slightly, realizing that she was starting to get used to it that way.

　A small silver pendant hung glistening upon her breast, and she weaved her fingers through its delicate chain, holding it up to eye height. The pendant caught the light from the lake, and its surface gleamed. It was a small metal fragment, too warped and misshapen to be a precious stone of any sort.

　”It’s no different from any old pebble now…”

　Arlette giggled slightly, and stared intently at the pendant, a fond, nostalgic look in her eyes. The psycho-frame fragment they had retrieved that day from the wreckage of the Sazabi at Axis. The same fragment had worked a small miracle then, saving the lives of both Danton and herself. They had been forced to abandon the Ahava Azieru back at Axis, but she had managed to bring the fragment home in her normal suit.

　She hadn’t told Danton. She hadn’t even told Mehmet. She felt bad about it, but the fragment was the last proof of the tie that she had shared with Char, and she had no intention of letting anyone else take it away.

　”Captain…”

　In that moment, the fragment had reacted to her cry of distress, and Arlette and Danton had seen a glimpse of scenes from their past. And within those memories, she had found Char again, just as he was whenever she thought back fondly to her days with him.

　She still didn’t feel like she fully understood who the real Char was. The orphan child of Zeon Zum Deikun, Casval Rem Deikun. The Red Comet, Char Aznable. Quattro Bajeena of the AEUG. And the leader of the Neo Zeon movement. It would be difficult to say that any of the many masks he had donned represented his true face. Yet equally, these disparate individuals were all undoubtedly the same man.

　Perhaps, however, that wasn’t so strange after all. For Arlette herself had worn many masks as well. It was difficult to believe that the very different roles she had played in her days at the Flanagan Institute, during her time as a mobile suit engineer, and her current role as the face of a dry cleaner were all the same person. And yet, she could not deny that all of those seemingly different people had still been her in some way or another.

　Looking keenly at the pendant once more, she mulled over the question that had bloomed in her mind during her days with Char: why had he picked up the two of them, and why had he allowed them to stay by his side?

　She had asked Danton what he thought when they were aboard a transport on their way back to Earth. He had sat for a few moments with his arms folded in silent contemplation and had then begun to answer her little by little, choosing his words with a degree of care that was unusual for him.

　Danton had told her that he thought that Char had been looking for the warmth of a family in the two of them. That he had entrusted them with the same sense of family that he himself had once had before it was lost forever. She had laughed and told him it was very like him to give an answer like that.

　That, then, had been Char Aznable as seen through the eyes of Danton. And others would have seen their own different versions of the man. Amuro Ray, Lalah Sune, the Zabi family, Kamille Bidan, Nanai Miguel, Quess Paraya… All would have sought different things from Char, just as Char himself would have looked for different things in each one.

　Char, as Arlette saw him, would have been different to Char as seen by Danton. And equally, Arlette’s own perception of herself would be different from how Danton perceived her. Even if a person can catch glimpses into the hearts of others, it is ultimately down to each individual how they see and interpret those glimpses.

　That was probably why people worked so hard to understand one another. And perhaps as humanity progressed and the basic form of the species became something closer to the so-called Newtypes, people would learn to understand one another on a deeper level. Though, of course, Arlette knew that that would not be any time soon.

　No single person could have fully understood Char’s true feelings. But perhaps that was fine. At that moment, she had once more been able to make contact with his heart and mind and had been able to say a proper farewell. And that alone was reward enough for returning to the Axis. So…

　Stretching her body tall, Arlette took the pendant from around her neck and hurled it forcefully towards the lake below her. It shone as it spun downwards, drawing a wide arc as it flew towards the clear surface of the lake. In a matter of seconds, it landed in the lake with a small splash, slowly sinking to the bottom. And eventually, Arlette could no longer see it at all.

　”See you around.”

　Smiling, she turned away from the lake. It was about time for her to head back. Danton would probably be standing at the counter about now, his already sour expression twisted into more of a grimace than ever. If she left him alone there, he’d scare off all the customers.

　Arlette ran towards the elec-car, the hem of her white dress fluttering.

—TWILIGHT AXIS END—