Two days had passed since the brutal canyon ambush that nearly tore the White Ark defense force apart. Inside the sterile, quiet corridors of the Neo-Verdia Military Hospital, the heavy, suffocating anxiety that had hung over the crew finally broke. The lead surgeon stepped out of the Intensive Care Unit, pulling off his mask, and gave a tired but reassuring nod. The complex emergency surgeries were complete; Feres's life was officially out of danger.
Hearing the news, Augustina collapsed against the corridor wall, burying her face in her hands as she wept tears of absolute, unfiltered relief. Her fierce, cold commander persona completely vanished, replaced by a big sister who had just been given a second chance to hold her family. The rest of the pilots and crew let out a collective breath they felt like they'd been holding for forty-eight hours straight.
"She's awake, and her vitals are fully stabilized," the doctor announced gently. "You may visit her now, but please, keep it calm."
Augustina didn't need to be told twice. She practically bolted through the electronic sliding doors of the private recovery room, her boots clicking loudly against the linoleum floor.
Inside, the room was bathed in the warm, bright glow of the morning sun streaming through a large window. Laying on the elevated medical bed was Feres. Her face was still pale, and a few minor bandages covered her forehead, but her expression was remarkably peaceful. She was looking out at the beautiful skyscrapers of Neo-Verdia, a soft, serene smile playing on her lips.
"Feres!" Augustina choked out, rushing to the bedside and instantly wrapping her arms around her little sister's shoulders, being mindful of her heavily bandaged chest. Augustina buried her face in Feres's short hair, her shoulders shaking. "You idiot... you absolute idiot... don't you ever scare me like that again..."
Feres let out a weak, raspy chuckle, using her remaining right arm to gently pat Augustina's back. "I'm sorry, Sis. I didn't mean to make you cry this much. But look, I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere."
A few moments later, the rest of the inner circle walked quietly into the room—Zaki, Maki, Aurora, Tasya, Agnes, and Salia. Zaki kept his distance near the back, his head lowered. But Feres's sharp eyes instantly locked onto his face. Specifically, onto the thick white gauze bandage taped tightly over his left cheek.
Feres's smile instantly vanished, her brow furrowing with sudden worry. "Zaki? What happened to your face? Did the enemy hit your cockpit structure during the final clash?"
Zaki flinched slightly, subconsciously reaching up to touch the bandage before dropping his hand back down into his pocket. He turned his gaze away, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Uh, no. It's nothing. I just... I bumped my face against a metal frame in the hangar after the battle. I was being clumsy. Don't worry about it."
Feres narrowed her eyes, completely seeing through the terrible lie. She knew Augustina's temper, and she knew Zaki's self-sacrificing guilt. She tried to forcefully push herself up from the pillows, her blankets shifting. "Don't give me that garbage, Zaki. Did my sister do that to you?!"
"Whoa, hey! Lay back down!" Augustina frantically panicked, placing both hands on Feres's shoulders to gently force her back against the mattress. "You literally just got out of major internal surgery, Feres! Stop moving around!"
Feres ignored her sister, her eyes still locked strictly on Zaki. Her voice softened, but it carried an undeniable command. "Zaki. Come here. Closer."
Zaki hesitated for a second, looking at the floor, but he ultimately complied. He took slow steps forward until he was standing right beside the edge of her bed. Feres raised her right hand, her fingers warm and gentle as she pressed them softly against his uninjured cheek, forcing him to look her directly in the eyes.
The moment their eyes met, Zaki's emotional defense completely cracked. His eyes turned glassy. "Feres... I'm so sorry," he whispered, his voice trembling with a deep, lingering guilt. "If I had just been faster... if I had dodged Dr. Lena's wire anchor properly, you wouldn't have had to throw your machine in front of mine. It's my fault you got hurt. I was supposed to be the vanguard, but I let you take the hit."
Feres shook her head softly, her thumb gently caressing his cheek. "Zaki, look at me. I told you before, didn't I? I will always support you, no matter what happens. I made a promise to myself to be right beside you, wherever you go in this war. If protecting the person I care about means getting a few scars, then an injury is completely okay. I don't regret a single thing I did out there."
Zaki listened to her words, a profound wave of emotion washing over him. He felt deeply touched, but at the same time, a part of him felt incredibly frustrated with himself. He was supposed to be the one who inspired Feres to find her own path, yet here he was, weak and unable to prevent her from being mutilated.
Standing just a few feet away, Aurora watched the entire exchange. Hearing Feres's completely raw, unconditional devotion to Zaki made something stir deep within her own heart. A strong, burning desire rose inside her chest—a sudden realization that she wanted to stand just as firmly by Zaki's side. She didn't want to just be a protected passenger anymore; she wanted to match Feres's strength and protect him with the same unyielding resolve.
"Besides," Feres suddenly said, a playful, slightly proud smirk returning to her lips as she pulled her right hand back. "I'm not exactly helpless now. Watch this."
With a sudden movement, Feres lifted the bedsheet from the left side of her body. The entire room gasped, their eyes widening in sheer disbelief.
Protruding from her left shoulder was not a stump of bandages, but a fully formed, sleek, high-grade robotic prosthetic arm. The metal was an elegant white-brown with soft blue optical lines running along the artificial muscle cables. Feres focused her mind, and the mechanical fingers smoothly curled into a tight, solid fist before extending back out, moving with the fluid precision and speed of a real human limb.
"See?" Feres smiled brightly, rotating her artificial wrist with a satisfying mechanical hum. "I can already move it perfectly. Honestly, I feel pretty proud of this. It's proof that I survived, and it means I can get right back into a cockpit to protect the person I love. I can stand up on my own two feet again."
While the rest of the team marveled at the incredible, seamless neural integration of the cybernetic arm, Zaki and Maki exchanged a knowing, quiet look. They didn't need to ask who could possibly design, build, and surgically calibrate a high-grade military neural-prosthetic in less than forty-eight hours. It was the undeniable work of their parents, Klaus and Airi Kimeza.
Meanwhile, deep inside the White Ark's primary mobile suit hangar, the atmosphere was thick with the smell of welding sparks and hydraulic oil.
Klaus Kimeza stood on an elevated gantry, his arms crossed over his massive chest as he looked down at the engineering deck. Below him, the heavy armor plates of the Bishop Mobile Suit were being systematically unbolted and stripped away by automated cranes. This wasn't just a repair job; the entire skeleton was being heavily modified and reconstructed to lay the foundation for a brand-new, customized high-performance unit specifically tailored for Feres.
Klaus closed his eyes, remembering the frantic, emotional scene in the operating room two nights ago. While Feres was still semi-conscious under heavy anesthesia, fighting through the intense pain of the amputation, she had weakly grabbed Klaus's coat sleeve. With tears running down her face, she had looked at both Klaus and Airi, begging them through a oxygen mask: "Please... give me a new arm... build me a Gundam... I need to stay with Zaki... I love him so much... I can't leave him alone in the dark..."
Both Klaus and Airi had been completely stunned by the sheer depth of the young girl's confession. They had simply nodded, deeply moved by her pure heart, before continuing the grueling surgery and accepting her desperate wish.
Step. Step.
Airi walked up the gantry steps, her lab coat fluttering slightly. She stepped up beside her husband, gently wrapping her arms around Klaus's massive right bicep, leaning her head against his shoulder as they watched the cranes work.
"Our boy is deeply loved, isn't he, Klaus?" Airi whispered softly, a gentle, motherly smile on her lips. "A woman so pure, so utterly sincere, that she's willing to sacrifice her own flesh and blood just to keep him safe... she even asked for our blessing while she was on the operating table."
Klaus let out a low, rumbling chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "Yeah... I really didn't expect it. It feels like just yesterday he was a little brat running around the living room, and now he's growing up and becoming a total hit with the ladies. Though, looking at our twin girl, it seems she's drawing the exact same kind of intense attention from the Treyman boy."
Airi laughed softly, the heavy dark clouds of the previous days finally dissipating into a warm, comfortable family moment.
For a brief period, a fragile peace returned to the territory of Neo-Verdia. But the quiet was deceptive. Across the solar system, the 7 Colonial Kingdoms and the Earth Federation commands were actively capitalizing on the leaked data. Massive military factories were working around the clock, loading heavy battle fleets and overcharging new experimental weapon arrays with a singular, unified goal: mobilize an overwhelming force to completely crush the White Ghost once and for all.
When night fell over the city, the cool evening breeze swept through the open-air observation deck on the second floor of the White Ark's residential sector.
Feres, now fully dressed in loose, comfortable civilian clothing, stood by the railing. She leaned her weight against the metal bar, her right hand holding a warm cup of tea while her new matte-black robotic left hand rested silently on the railing, reflecting the twinkling neon lights of the Neo-Verdia skyline below.
Woosh.
The automatic glass doors slid open, and Aurora stepped out onto the balcony. Her long silver hair caught the moonlight as she walked over, taking a spot right beside Feres, leaning against the railing to look out at the beautiful, sprawling city.
"You should be resting, Feres," Aurora said softly, her purple eyes filled with a gentle concern. "The doctors said your neural paths are still adapting to the cybernetic arm."
"I'm fine, Aurora. The cool air actually helps with the phantom itching," Feres replied, a relaxed smile on her face as she took a sip of her tea.
The two girls stood in comfortable silence for a long moment before Aurora shifted her weight, her expression becoming a bit more serious, her gaze dropping to her own hands. "Feres... can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Why do you love Zaki so much?" Aurora asked, her voice quiet but full of a genuine desire to understand. "What is it about him that made you willing to risk everything, even your own life?"
Feres's smile softened, a warm, nostalgic look entering her eyes as she stared out at the city lights. "Zaki... he's the one who completely changed my life, Aurora. Before I met him, I was just a pilot living under my sister's shadow, going through the motions of war without a real purpose. But Zaki looked at me and challenged me to find my own worth. He made me want to achieve more, to be someone who can actually make a difference instead of just following orders. He gave me a reason to fight."
Feres then paused, turning her head slightly to look at Aurora with a mischievous, knowing glint in her eyes. She let out a soft chuckle. "But honestly, you like him too, don't you? It's pretty obvious."
Aurora's eyes widened in sudden panic, a brilliant pink blush instantly flooding her cheeks. She stuttered, her hands waving slightly. "W-What?! Is it really that obvious?!"
"Incredibly obvious," Feres teased, leaning closer. "He's probably the only guy in this entire sector who treats you like a completely normal girl. He doesn't care about your political status, and he doesn't treat you like some fragile artifact, even after you told him that you're a direct descendant of the Venus Colonial Royal Bloodline. To Zaki, you're just Aurora. And I know how much that means to you."
Aurora caught her breath, her flustered expression slowly melting into a soft, embarrassed smile as she looked down. "Yeah... you're completely right. He's the first person who ever saw me, not just my title. I really do love him."
Feres smiled, turning her body fully toward Aurora and crossing her arms. "Well, then it's official. From this moment on, you and I are rivals for Zaki's heart. I'm not backing down just because you're a princess, you know."
Hearing the word 'rivals,' Aurora blinked, but then she softly shook her head, a calm, gentle expression returning to her face. "No, Feres... we don't need to be rivals."
Feres raised an eyebrow, completely confused. "Huh? What do you mean? Are you just giving up?"
"No, that's not it," Aurora explained, a small, elegant smile gracing her lips. "In the outer space colonies, especially under old Colonial tradition... polygamy is completely legal and culturally accepted. A single man is permitted to take more than one partner if the bond is built on mutual respect and survival."
Feres's jaw practically dropped, her eyes widening in absolute shock. Her robotic left hand even twitched slightly from the sudden spike in her heart rate. "Wait... what?! Are you seriously saying you're okay with sharing one guy with another woman?!"
Aurora chuckled softly, turning her head to look back out at the glowing city. "To be completely honest... no, the selfish part of me doesn't like the idea of sharing him at all. But... I've come to know you really well over these past few months, Feres. I saw what you did for him. I saw how much you sacrificed to keep him alive. If it's with someone I deeply trust, someone who loves him just as much as I do... then I don't mind sharing that burden with you."
Feres stood completely frozen, staring at the dark blue-haired princess in utter disbelief. The sheer maturity and lack of petty jealousy from Aurora caught her completely off guard. Slowly, a wide, genuinely touched smile broke across Feres's face. She let out a loud, happy laugh, stepping forward and throwing her right arm over Aurora's shoulders, pulling the princess into a warm, friendly side-hug.
"Wow... you really are a crazy princess, you know that?" Feres laughed, her mood completely brightened. "Alright, deal! But let me tell you, if Zaki ever causes you any trouble or makes you cry, you just come tell me. My new robotic arm packs a serious punch, and I won't hesitate to give him a piece of my mind for both of our sakes!"
Aurora burst into a bright, beautiful laughter, hugging Feres back tightly. The heavy lingering shadows of their past trauma completely faded into the night air as the two girls continued to joke, laugh, and watch over the city they were both determined to protect.
To be continued...