Mobile Suit Gundam: Code Nova [Rewrite]

[Gundam Nova]

 

March 15th, I.J.C 200 Metalica’s Restrict Zone.

 

“Big Sis! Play with me!” Ollie jumped up into my arm and before she could fall, I managed to catch her. Her eyes were full of childishness as she demanded to play with me.

 

“Alright, alright. What do you want to play?” I ask her, putting her down slowly so she would not get hurt.

 

“Tags! I want to play tags!” She said excitedly. Before running to join the other children, “You are Its! Let’s run!” She points at me before running away with the other.

 

I laugh a bit at their attic before getting up, “Alright! Here I come!” I yell out loud enough so that they can hear, and then a loud giggle comes out of them, revealing their location to me.

 

Well, I will just pretend I didn’t know where they are, after all. I could see the leg coming out from the wall.

 

It's already the 15th huh? The military camp is starting in a week, tomorrow will be my last day here…I really don’t want to leave…it is so… serene and peaceful here.

 

Once I leave this place…I won’t be living in this dream anymore, I will go back to reality where I will still continue to deceive others…could I … continue living like that? I don’t really know.

 

“Uwa! Uhh!’ The sound of crying snaps me out of my thoughts, I quickly turn toward the sound and see a little girl no older than 2 crying, is that Ouro? I quickly rush to her and kneel down.

 

“Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?” I ask her slowly, carefully caressing her head, trying to imitate the gesture that I have known all my life.

 

She shakes her head at me, her crying is lessened but she is still sniffing. taking out my handkerchief I wipe away the snort on her nose and then follow by her tears.

 

“Then why are you crying? Is there anything you are upset about?” I ask her, using the most gentle voice I can muster, and it reminds me of…mother’s voice…

 

“No…no one here…to play?” She said, I understood what was going on, she was just playing with others until they suddenly ran away. It seemed she was still too young to understand the concepts of tags. She was just going after every child, then playing with them, just typical children's things.

 

“Then do you want to play with me?” I picked her up before she could reply to anything. “Alright, the rules of the game are simple, You just need to point out where other children are, ok?” She nods slowly, and I wipe her tears with my hand.

 

“Ok, now then! Where could they be?! Is it over there?” I turned toward the wall where I last saw the kid’s leg. He was peeking from the wall, probably concerned about Ouro who was crying just now.

 

Ouro slowly turned her head around, looking for the children, slowly she turned toward the hidden boy who was peeking out, Ouro quickly pointed at him and I looked at him too. “Ok! Grab on me tightly, alright?” 

 

With her held tightly in my arm, I lowered myself a bit, judging the distance, I think…3 seconds should be enough.

 

Before the Boy could make any more, I put My strength into my feet, pushing myself forward in the air. As soon as I jumped, the boy started to panic and he tried to run but it was too late. Once my feet hit the ground, I made my second jump which put me in front of the boy.

 

The distance was just around 3 meters, the weight of Ouro is around 20 to 30 kg, so her weight wasn’t a problem, and there was also no obstacle around to hinder my movement.

 

I tap his shoulder lightly, prompting him to turn around. “How! You're so fast!” he said while mulling over the fact that he was the first one to get tags.

 

Just as I was about to cheer him up, Ouro reached out her little arm and touched the boy's head. “There, there!’ She spook out in a cute baby tone, so I couldn’t help but giggle a little.

 

“Ouro…” He muttered while his eyes were looking at the girl Brightly. 

 

“Alright, that one down…Now Ouro, do you see anyone else?” I spin around slowly, letting her get the surroundings in her head before she points out a patch of green hari walking by. 

 

Klara was doing a chore for Ms.Claire and she didn't seem to notice us, “Alright, Ouro, we need to be sneaky alright?” I put my finger on my lip and made a ‘shhh’ sound which she imitated.

 

Then slowly, I moved toward Klara’s back, she seemed to focus on something at the moment so this was perfect. Once I reach a certain distance, I put Ouro forward, and then…ouro touches Klara’s neck.

 

“Eek!? What the?!” She turns around only to see me and Ouro already running away, “O-oi! I’m working here! Go play somewhere else!” Her scream rang out throughout the house, but me and Ouro didn’t care. I was having fun, and I was going to continue to do it!

 

“Alright! Ouro, let’s find everyone. Alright?” She nods and my word and together, we run around the house, finding the children, tagging them, and run around. I wasn’t feeling tired at all, and Ouro and the other children's laughs were giving me the energy to keep going.

 

Time passed very quickly, and before I knew it, the day was gone by with me running around with all the children, playing house, hide and seek, making them snack and play again.

 

Time passed by so fast…to the point that I want it all to stop at this moment forever…but everything has to move on, that is how time works, that is how humans work…someone who never moves on will be stuck in the past.

 

I put all the children into bed, telling them some story as a lullaby, and slowly, everyone was falling asleep…

 

Everyone here…was a good kid…They make me feel like a human again, not a doll anymore, but I guess good times will always come to an end. Closing the book in my hand, I put them next to the table and walked out of the room. 

 

Klara was already sleeping, since we would need to leave in the morning and she wasn’t really a morning person, just like me but I adapted to it.

 

But that's good…this gives me an opportunity to talk with her.

 

Walking along the dark corridor, I found one room that was still lit, I knocked on the door, and waited for a bit before an answer came in.

 

“Come on in, dear.” Ms.Claire said with a sweet voice.

 

“Then please, excuse me.” I opened the door, and she was there, sitting on her bed with a book, it seemed she was reading before I came in. Unlike her usual Nun attire, she wears something comfortable. But unlike before, it didn’t cover her legs, I finally saw it…The reason why she was so quiet when she was walking was the prosthetic legs.

 

“Hm? Curious about these babies?” She then took both of them out and placed them on the bed, “I lost my legs during my Military service, It was after the war and Earth is still in the state of Recovery.” She then pointed toward the chair that was across from her, prompting me to sit.

 

“You have been…expecting me?” I asked her, which she relied on by just smiling…” then…” Taking in a huge breath, I focus my attention on her, this is…something I want to do. “I want to ask…about whether I should invest in this Colony?”

 

“No, you should not.” an Instant replied.

 

“Why, with the Ottoman as an Investor, other families from Earth would take notice and try to invest in this too, otherwise…this Colony would turn into a Mobile Factory,” I ask for her reason, why I shouldn’t invest in this Colony…

 

“It is simple, It would never work. You already see the state of this place, haven’t you? Why do you think they didn’t send an investor sooner? It is because this palace was beyond saving. And there are mainly 3 reasons.”

 

“May I know what your reasoning is?”

 

“First off, The money you will spend on this place will never go into repairing the Colony, why? That is because this place is now becoming money laundering for the rich. Having this place revived would put them out of one good place to launder their money. And you know, the reason this place is still running is because of the dirty business.”

 

“That could be easily fixed-”

 

“Second, the New colony had already been in creation, it would take a few more years but soon, everyone here would be placed in the new one instead. So investing this late would just be you throwing your money away.”

 

“That also can-”

 

“Thirdly and the final reason, You are not the Master of the Ottoman house. You are just the Heir, true you have potential but Stephan would never give you the title the moment you said you want to invest in here.”

 

I was stunned, she cut me off 2 times in a row before saying his name. “Who are you?” I ask her, my hand moving fast toward the chair as my leg was shaking, ready to jump.

 

“I’m just a simple Nun named Claire Nelson, there is no need for you to be worried.”

 

“Why? I should be worried, I know My name was quite obvious that I was related to the Ottoman but you seem to know a lot about Stephan’s Personality, even why this would put me out of his option to inherit the house.”

 

“Well, he was always like that, even when he met Kylie, do you know how stiff he was when he proposed to her? I had to smack him in the back a few times till he got the courage, Nehehe…Anyway, You shouldn’t invest in this place. It is dying, and will turn into A Mobile factory in the Future anyway…”

 

…That was…true but…” but what will happen to the children? They live in an unsafe environment, if something happened to them…I would…feel useless. Even though I have power I couldn’t do anything.” All I wanted from this…was just to put them in a safe space, so that…that never happened again.

 

“Life does feel that way a lot, doesn’t it? Well, Why not take them with you? Just take them to a new orphanage on earth where they will be safe.” She said so nonchalantly, as if she didn’t care at all…no she cared but she just trusted me to not harm them.

 

“Then…will you come with them, if I take them away to earth?”

 

“No.” 

 

“Why? If you don’t come the children will-”

 

“Yoha Seres Ottoman.” The air changes in an instant, and my breath feels tense as my instinct suddenly screams for me to get away. But nothing happens. I looked frightfully at the old woman in front of me, she was still smiling but the air was different. 

 

“I can’t leave this place. You see, there are still many children in here that need rescue, one that doesn’t have anyone to rely on, if I leave then those children will never get to see the light of day. So I must stay here and do my duty for the rest of my short life.”

 

“...so you wouldn’t come, and will stay here to find other children to rescue?”

 

“Yes, that is what I will do.”

 

What should I do? The children would not leave without Ms. Claire for sure…but still, many children were lost in this…world, one that needs to be saved…what should I do…

 

The group that Odis interrogates has already spilled everything and the military is making a move to apprehend them all…that it. If I can’t help them move, I will just make it safer, that's right. With this…everything should be ok.

 

“Then…I won’t take the children with me…but I will make it safer, using the influence of the Ottoman, even if I was just an Heir and didn’t have enough power as Stephan I can still influence this place. As long as it was the Military that was my target, I could make them move to my command, or at least make them protect this place.”

 

“That, you can. But are you sure this is the right move? You are using your emotions as an excuse to help us. What Stephan needs isn’t someone who will decide important matters by using emotion.” 

 

“That is no problem at all…This is…just for my image…that right, everything I did here was to make my image appear to be more merciful, more empathetic. It was all for myself, by using the military to help with the restricted area of this place, making it safer, the general populace will praise me. I would appear to them as their savior who moves the military, this will help in the process of choosing a new commander, after all. The military doesn’t just need a competent one, but one that could change the populace's opinion of them.”

 

That right, this was all just for my image, it was just to help me elevate my popularity, both within the military and the populace itself. I know that many soldiers here have family inside the restricted zone, so having this place become safer would make their opinion of me get better, at least better than the incompetent little shit that wasn’t even here in the first place.

 

“Stephan would approve of this, after all, there is nothing to lose in this situation, because all I did was just move some lazy ass to work. I Didn’t use his influence, just the house. I didn’t use his name, just the house. And that is what was important, I was using the influence of the house, and by using them, our reputation would look better, The Ottoman…is weird, to say the least, we did not appear much to the public, but we controlled one of the most important positions in our society, that why people are scare of us.”

 

“Because we are the unknown, everyone indeed knows who the Ottoman is but never our nature, that is why Stephan is a commander, he is a variable that could tilt the field, but that is not enough anymore…We need public opinion if we are to continue like this. I know there is a reason…reason why he wants me to be the ace and continue the house. Just simple thinking is enough, even with the cease-fire against Agellus, around 30 years ago…our war is still not over.”

 

Ms.Claire looked into my face, and a new light shone on her, almost as if…she found it interesting.

 

“Pray tell this old woman, why do you think the ‘War’ is still not over?” She said, her demeanor changing, she was calming like a sea…but now it was calm before the storm.

 

“My first clue was when I heard the news of the rebellion in Metalica. The demand was very absurd, wanting the whole colony to be free? That was impossible, after all, metalica is Earth's Major supply route that would be the heart of war truly broke out, so then…why and how could they have weapons that not even Earth’s Military know of? How did they get the supply? And why did Earth have so much Delay in the suppression, almost as if someone intentionally made them into a stalemate.”

 

I said, thinking back on my thoughts 5 years ago, when I heard of the news my thoughts jumped toward the only possible Enemy who has both resources and reason to do so.

 

“Then…there 7 years ago with the disappearance of Stellar Research, the only ally of Earth, How they disappeared, I don’t know but there is a reason why it is important. Without Stellar Research, our technology will become stagnant. Do you know of an Assistant AI called Maria?” 

 

“Hm… that's a Term I never heard before, is it after I retired?” She questioned me, eyes shining a bit as if she found a new toy.

 

“Maria or Multifunctional Automated Response and Information Assistant, just like its name, is a program that is used to process information about the surroundings and help the Pilot make the best decision or respond to them automatically when the Pilot is in danger. This program…was the work of the Agellus Empire. This program appeared 20 years ago, during the stage of recovery, we were able to intercept a Mobile Suit of Agellus and it took us 5 whole years just to crack to the surface. And it was all the work of Stellar Research.” 

 

She looks a bit shocked, it seems this is a piece of new information for her. Right, 5 years just for a single program and it is just the surface, it is ridiculous isn’t it? 

 

“What I am saying is…Without Stellar Research, our technology advancement would not be on par with Agellus, that was the only reason we managed to keep them at bay, and then Agellus and Folkard just suddenly decided to cooperate. That just screams like a new war is coming, though I didn’t know when.”

 

She took a moment to absorb all the information, taking in everything I said and processing it in her head.

 

“You quite the sharp girl, of course, taking in every clue it would seem that war was coming but that was all still just speculation.”

 

“That’s right, it's just a speculation, that's why we need to prepare. Gaining public opinion will of course contribute to this preparation. So He will not be disappointed, and I will remain the only option.” 

 

“I see…using speculation as an excuse to use the power of the house while gaining popularity with the people, you will not lose anything, but will gain the respect of people, is that right?” 

 

“That's the idea.” I nod to her, ms. Claire's body then slowly relaxed.

 

“Well, well…Looks like Stephan got himself a good Heir.”

 

“I’m…not a good heir…” Why does everyone always say that? Do I have the quality? 

 

“Welp, that opinion will just stick with you. OK, I understand, I know now why Klara took a liking to you, I’m starting to like you myself.” I feel my face blush a bit, for an unknown reason.

 

“Yoha, dear.” She used my name while looking me in the eyes. “Being the heir to the Ottoman is a dangerous endeavor, you have probably faced many attempts already but most of them didn’t come close. So I will say this, In the future, you will face many hardships, maybe you will lose something important, or lose someone important but don’t lose yourself in the process. That is my advice to you as your Elder. Lastly, May the Lord bless you so that you may achieve what you want to.” She pulls out a cross and prays for me.

 

“...Thank you. I…need that.”

 

“Nehehe, now it is so late already, time for you to go to sleep, you will need tomorrow once the day is bright…or the colony is turning on the light.” She jokes lightly and I laugh together with her. 

 

Excusing myself I walk out of the room and close the door. 

 

A huge sigh was released from my mouth, as I walked toward the kitchen, took a cup of water, and drank it greedily.

 

“Tomorrow would be the day the dream is over, It time to go back to reality, Yoha Milas Revory.” This sentence was repeated in my head. “But this time…you are not alone in reality anymore.” The last sentence was to keep it in my heart.