The third chapter is here. But before that, there's one thing I want to say first.

I want to apologize for those who had been waiting for the actions because this chapter is not. It's harder than I thought to fulfill my promise, so once again I apologize...

And moving on to the guests:

Vakama - Whoa whoa whoa, one by one dude. You will get to see it later. But I can ensure you one thing that Salamandinay will take an interest to Banagher (as potential love or respectable rival, I'll leave it up to your imagination)

Guest - I'll have my own plan for sure. Sorry, but I can't spoil it for now.

Magnificent - One thing for sure is you know what will happen when a boy is in the middle of an island full of cute girls fighting dragons who have never seen a man, before, right?

OrionGold - Which is why in reality, we humans sometimes are considered worse than animals... As for the Heart of a Familiar. I'm currently working on it now. After that the White Devil of SEED.

Guest#2/mechafreak - Sorry, I can't tell you the details but I can assure you that one of them will be alive. As for the idea of Banagher having his own paramail, hmm... I like it, especially with your specs and technical history. As for your latest idea... well I'm afraid I need to put that on hold considering Banagher is smart in MS engineering, but I doubt if he is 'that' smart to replicate the psycoframe tech.

kyle - Here's the update. Sorry that it's not as I hoped for.

Guest#3/recentreader325 - Done. You will find it out in this chapter.

Guest#4 - If you are talking about Funnel Gatling Shield action, the Armed Armor DE already has built in beam cannon and they are retractable to be used as normal shields.

Guest#5 - Hey, that's one nice idea. Maybe at least 1-2 chapters after Banagher's new life in Arzenal.

Guest#6 - My thoughts exactly.

Guest#7 - This is the next chapter. Unfortunately, this one serves more as the prelude before Banagher goes to Arzenal.

Guest#8 - Thanks for your idea. I'll consider it for now.

Guest#9 - Will he? Let's wait and see about that in the future.

Guest#10 - Definitely.

Guest#11 - Sir, you just labelled Embryo as the 2nd coming of Scirocco which perfectly fits him.

And that's it all. Happy reading, readers.


- Chapter 3: Wanted -

Misurugi Empire – Alleyway

Like dogs were nipping at his heels, Banagher moved as fast as he could while taking along the mother and the baby Serra away from the authorities. Despite having no idea where they were running to and that the cops weren't after them anymore, it was the only thing they could do now. His legs never stopped pumping despite his tiredness from the fighting and his hand refused to let the woman behind him go. As they finally made it back to the main street, the two kept running, ignoring the looks from the pedestrians scattered around who didn't know what had happened.

The mother on the other hand was lost in her thoughts concerning the ongoing situation. She was both confused and grateful. Part of her had no idea why this mysterious boy had suddenly came out of nowhere with the intention of helping her and her baby Norma. Wasn't he supposed to stand and watch as her baby got taken away just like the others? However, part of her heart was also very grateful to him since he beat up the police officers and royal guards, all so that she didn't have to see her daughter be taken away. Looking at her baby who wasn't crying anymore now and sleeping peacefully while cradled in the crook of her right arm, completely ignorant of what had nearly happened, a faint smile formed on her lips followed by a single tear from her left eye.

Serra, whether she was a Norma or not, she was still her own flesh and blood, and she would never trade it for anything the world could offer to her...

As they kept running like there was no tomorrow, the mother looked around before she noticed something and spoke up, "Please, stop..."

"Huh?" Banagher's eyes widened a bit before he did as she requested. Right now, they were next to a parking lot where a lot of mana-powered cars could be seen.

Turning around while breathing in and out from exhaustion, he looked at the woman with a questioning look. "Wh... why... are we... stopping here?" He asked in-between breaths.

To answer his question, the mother raised her hand and then used her mana power to ignite one blue car in a green aura which was located three cars away from where they were with a 'bleep' sound, surprising Banagher as he turned around to the hover-car.

Now it was her turn to take Banagher's hand and then step over to said car before she opened both side doors and motioned him to get inside. "Get in. It's my car."

"What? But-"

"Just get in! Hurry!"

"O-okay!"

At her words, Banagher then took the left front seat while Serra's mother sat in the driver's seat on the right. After fastening both of their safety belts, the woman put her Norma baby in her baby-chair and placed it between them before she used her mana again to start the engine. From outside, the same green aura began surrounding the car before it lifted itself several inches from the ground and then left the parking lot towards the city's gates.

But of course it wasn't as simple as they thought, just before the car was about to pass through the gates, a guard in a red uniform suddenly pulled out in front of them and gave them a hand sign to stop combined with a whistle.

For a moment, both Banagher and Serra's mother felt shivers running down their spines. Had they failed? Would the guard arrest them? Both of them could feel their heartbeat go up as the guard walked up to them and then knocked on the side window twice.

Looking at the mysterious boy and her baby with a worried expression, the woman had no choice but to roll it down it while trying her best to look normal to the guard.

"Excuse me ma'am." The man greeted with a salute. "Are you going out somewhere with your son and your baby?" He asked, looking at Banagher and then Serra before returning to her again.

"Eeeh...?" She blinked in confusion before finally understanding what he meant and then decided to play along. With a fake smile, she answered, "Ah, yeah. I want to take my son and my daughter to my villa near the lake outside. Right, sweetie?" The woman looked at Banagher.

Aware of the situation, the boy then pretended to follow her lead as he looked at the guard, "Yeah. Mom said that she wanted to take us there because the scenery of the lake is very beautiful this time of year."

"Just like what he said, sir." added Serra's mother, hoping that the guard would buy their made-up story.

"I see then..." The guard nodded before he saluted them again with a friendly smile, "Well, drive safe and have a good day, ma'am."

"Thank you very much, sir." The woman thanked him before closing the window again and directing the car through the gate. As soon as they passed the gate outside, both Banagher and Serra's mother let out a long sigh, relieved that they had avoided a bullet and more importantly were now far away from their pursuers.

Once the blue car was out of the sight, the guard moved to return to his post when he felt something...

"Oh? A mana message?" with a hand swipe, a mana screen then appeared, showing the sender which made him quirk his eyebrow slightly.

"From HQ? I wonder it's about..."

...

With Banagher

The trip towards the forest was rather uneventful. For almost an hour, the view outside consisted of nothing but trees and road. Having no idea where they were going, the boy then tentatively asked her.

"Um... ma'am. Where are we going?"

Without looking back while driving, the woman answered, "To my villa. It's located at the lakeside and far away from the capital of the Misurugi Empire, so we should be safe there for a while."

"So you really have one!" replied Banagher, his eyes wide in amazement.

The mother merely giggled in response, "Of course I do."

Banagher chuckled back while scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He didn't know why but seeing this woman smile had somehow given him a sense of peace in his mind as he smiled back at her. Perhaps it was due to her being distraught when he saw her for the first time?

However, that feeling was quickly replaced with slight fear and worry as the boy looked back at the rear window. Would they ever be safe from the police and imperial guards? How long would it be before they made another move? Those were the things that came to mind as he looked at the shrinking view of the Misurugi Empire's capital. He could only hope that they wouldn't come after them for a long time or better yet forget about them.

His gaze then shifted towards Serra who was sleeping in her chair and then let out a low snore as Banagher watched her silently with a concerned look. He couldn't just believe that the little harmless infant beside him had been treated as nothing more than a human abomination who was such a danger to society that she was about to be cast away without any remorse.

A baby being labeled as such and treated like that just because she couldn't use this 'Light of Mana' power and broke it instead...

Banagher leaned back; a sad frown on his face as he looked at the car's ceiling aimlessly. 'Why... why did everything turn like this...?' He mentally asked himself.

Soon after, Banagher's eyes then suddenly felt heavy. He didn't feel it before but he was very tired after all that fighting and running around. With every second that passed, his vision became more blurry before exhaustion finally claimed him and he fell asleep.

When Serra's mother noticed that the mysterious boy was now sleeping with his head position tilted slightly to the left, she smiled a bit. She then used her mana power to pull out a blanket which had been stored under the dashboard to cover half of the sleeping figure of the boy while still driving.

After all that trouble, this was the best thing her little savior deserved now: A very good rest...

...

Misurugi Palace – Julio's room

The interior of the room was very luxurious, worthy of his royal station. Almost the entire floor was covered with a red velvet carpet and every single piece of furniture boasted of high quality complete with side panels of gold. Sitting at the reading desk near the built-in bookcase with legs crossed, Julio was reading a book of what appeared to be a collection of classical literature. A mixed expression of seriousness and boredom was displayed on his face as he propped his chin up with his left hand before he finally let out a bored sigh and closed the book.

As he stood up from his desk to return the book back to its place on a nearby shelf, something then caught his attention as the prince's gaze shifted towards an album on the top of the bookcase. The album was a very thick one and had a wine-red cover with gold filigree ornaments as shown from the side. While Julio had quite a collection of his literatures and poems, he wasn't really into them and it was the maids and servants who were in charge of arranging them, so he didn't really know all of their titles nor really cared if some of them actually got mixed in with some magazines or books that were unrelated with his personal taste.

Slowly, Julio pulled out the album and then looked at its contents while still standing there. It was only just the first two pages, but the prince's expression already turned nasty at what he was looking at inside: Two pages and they were full of pictures of his younger sister Angelise when she was still a little princess and some of the pictures had her with her personal maid Momoka.

He flipped more and more pages, eventually reaching the end and his pupils shrunk in shock. Almost every page of the entire album was filled with his sister's pictures! He'd only found maybe three or four pictures of himself and Sylvia and they were just a part of her pictures like when they were riding horses together, celebrating Angelise's birthday, the entire royal family portrait. There was no personal picture of him or Sylvia, none at all...

And yet, out of all of the places in the palace, he had to find this thing in his private room...

This caused Julio to grit his teeth in anger and hatred as he closed the album and clenched it firmly in his hands before he finally slammed it against the wall in a blind rage. "Father... mother... is she really that precious to you? More than I or Sylvia even though she's one of 'them'!?" He wondered angrily while lowering his head in deep contempt.

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

It was then that someone suddenly knocked on the door, causing Julio to snap out of his personal despair and then return back to his typical charismatic demeanor, "Come in."

The person who came in turned out to be his personal bodyguard, Riza Rundog.

"Julio-sama. I have found out where they are running away to. Our team has successfully traced their car's ID number from the woman's ID and it looks like they are escaping to the forest." She reported, earning a nod from the prince.

"Hmm... like mice trapped in a cage." Julio rubbed his chin at the information before he smirked and complimented her, "Excellent work, Riza."

But then, the woman spoke again, "Also, there's one more thing, Julio-sama."

"What is it?" The prince cocked his eyebrow slightly.

"About that boy, he is not a citizen from here." She told him. With a hand motion, Riza then created a mana screen in front of her which showed a picture of Banagher with the status of 'no data' written in all red caps. "There are no records about him from the registration service. No name, birthplace, occupation, parents' names, nothing at all."

"So, an outlaw, eh? That clearly explains his barbaric nature." Julio concluded and frowned at the holographic picture of the brown haired boy.

"It appears that he is. What's your next order, Julio-sama?"

At her question, Julio put his finger under his chin in thought, thinking about what he should do next. He looked at the album in his left hand for a moment and an idea then came to mind.

With a smirk on his face, he turned to his bodyguard, "Riza, I want you to form a small search team to find that baby Norma tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, sir?" Riza raised her eyebrow questioningly at his order, "Why not now?"

Putting the album back to its place, Julio calmly answered her, "Right now, I have more important matters to deal with than a single baby Norma and a little barbarian. But it's best if we prepare first." As he walked past her to the door, he stopped and looked at her over his shoulder, "Oh and put an arrest warrant out on that boy. Since he is an outlaw and on top of that a Norma sympathizer, who knows if he would run away to another country? That would be very troublesome, wouldn't it?"

"Hai, Julio-sama!" replied the woman with a bow. When the figure of the prince was finally out of the sight, Riza couldn't help but feel suspicious as she narrowed her eyes. She had been Julio's bodyguard long enough to know that he truly despised Normas as much as others did and he normally wouldn't wait so long to order the disposal of a Norma on sight. To give her an order to hold a Norma capture off until tomorrow was quite unusual for him.

'A more important matter than that boy and the Norma? What could it be?' thought the woman. Her attention then turned to the holographic picture of the mysterious boy. As Julio's personal bodyguard, Riza had access to the database that contained records for all of the citizens in the Misurugi Empire and yet this boy wasn't among them at all. She'd even contacted the registration services from the neighboring countries and the result was the same: They didn't have any data about him, not even his name. So where did this mysterious boy come from? It was the question that plagued her mind before she dismissed the mana screen and then left the room.

...

Several kilometers away from the Capital

Upon arriving at their destination after the runaway trip that had taken hours, the sound of the car engine stopping roused Banagher as he slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them. When he could get a better look at what in front of him, his eyes and mouth then went wide in awe. Right before him was a beautiful scene that he would never forget for the rest of his life: A house near the lake surrounded by the forest (Think of it like the cottage where Amuro meets Lalah for the first time).

The house itself was two stories tall, made mostly of wood with a chimney on the roof. There were also two wooden chairs around a wooden round table on the wooden terrace that looked out upon the lake. But what really took his breath away was the amazing sunset and its reflection on the lake.

"Here we are." He heard Serra's mother say and he turned to her. "I'll go and prepare a room for you. Please make yourself at home." She said, looking at the boy with a motherly smile.

"Um, thank you." He replied.

The woman then unlocked her safety belt first before she did the same for her baby while Banagher followed suit. As they got out of the car, Banagher took this chance to take a walk around and observe the view around the lake while Serra's mother carried her baby inside the house.

"It's so beautiful..." Banagher muttered, looking at the sunset and the silhouettes of passing geese. For a moment, he was mesmerized by the beauty of the view he was looking at before he finally decided to go inside the house as well.

The interior of the house if one could say was quite cozy, not small but not too large either. The walls were covered with a green diamond pattern wallpaper and the floors consisted of cut wood planks. Right past the door was a dining room with a kitchen set nearby where Serra's mother in her apron was in the middle of cooking something and a rectangular wooden table with four chairs around sat nearby. Right past the kitchen area was the stairs that went up to the second floor where she had put her baby and a living room with sofas, a fireplace which explained the chimney and four doors: two wooden doors that led to two bedrooms, one white door to the bathroom, and one windowed door that led to the backyard terrace.

When Banagher walked around the house, he noticed that there was a picture frame placed on the fireplace at the living room. Curious, he walked over to the fireplace and picked up the frame to inspect it closer. He saw two people in the photo, one of them being a younger version of the woman and the other was a man who he assumed was her husband, they looked so happy together with the background of the lake outside. Banagher guessed that this picture was taken long before Serra was born since the baby was nowhere to be seen there.

Speaking of the husband, where was he? Did he even know what had almost happened to his wife and daughter?

Suddenly, Banagher then heard the woman call out to him, "Dinner's ready."

"Ah, o-okay."

Carefully, he placed the picture frame back before going to dinner.

...

After dinner

Banagher found himself now sitting across from Serra's mother. After having dinner, both of them decided to have a small talk to kill the time at least until they felt tired. The conversation started first with both Banagher and the woman introduced themselves. Regardless to say, both the Unicorn pilot and the mother whose name he learned was Sayla felt a bit awkward for not introducing themselves earlier despite the situation they had been through before.

Sayla took the initiative by asking about Banagher's origins, including where he lived and wondering whether his parents were worried about him. Banagher swallowed nervously upon receiving such questions. So far the only names that he knew were the Misurugi Empire and the Enderant Union. There was no way that he respond with the truth, that he was born in a space colony from an alternate world, only arriving to help her thanks to a freak accident in his Mobile Suit. Sayla would never buy it and instead she would think him insane or something like that.

So, he decided to say that he had come from someplace between those two neighboring countries and told her that his parents had long since passed away. The latter wasn't entirely a lie though, his mother Anna had died due to illness when he was still young before he had been taken under the wing of the chairman of the Vist Foundation who then turned out to be his biological father Cardeas Vist. He had been killed by an explosion when the Sleeves came and attacked Industrial 7.

Thankfully even though he didn't go into the details of how the two died since it was also a rather sensitive spot that he preferred not to talk about, Sayla seemed convinced and bought his story as the woman gasped in shock and looked at the boy sympathetically.

"I'm sorry about your parents' loss..."

"It's okay, ma'am..." Banagher replied as he looked at his intertwined hands on the table before looking up at her, "Um, if you don't mind, there's something I'd like to ask..."

"What is it?"

"About that baby, Serra..." He began, "Why did the police want to take her away just because she's a Norma? I mean I know that she couldn't use the mana and broke it instead, but is such an event really that dangerous?"

His question caused Sayla to raise her eyebrow and look at him strangely as if she wanted to say 'have you been spending your time living under a rock or what?' "You mean you've never heard about it?"

"Uhhh..." Banagher scratched the back of his head nervously, trying to think of an answer until he finally found it, "Back in my hometown, we've never seen them before, so it was my first time witnessing something like that."

"Oh..." was her only reply before she intertwined her hands on the table and lowered her head, her expression then growing somber.

After a moment of silence, the woman finally answered in a low voice, "I... honestly don't even know why. It's always been like that since then..."

"Since then?" Banagher repeated, looking at Sayla questioningly.

"Yes." She nodded, "Normas... the violent and antisocial monsters, menaces to society... because they reject the Light of Mana. In order to preserve the peace and harmony of the citizens, the royal family ordered the capture of every Norma on sight..."

"...What would happen to the captured Normas then?" He asked again.

"Again, I don't really know about that..." Sayla shook her head slowly, "But from what I heard, they would be either quarantined forever or maybe disposed of..."

"Disposed of!?" Banagher almost shouted at the mention of the word. Now possessing a shocked expression he leaned forward, "Even if they're still a baby?"

The answer he got was a silent nod from the woman. However, it was more than enough to make the Gundam pilot's pupils shrink and he then leaned back on his chair with a dazed look as he tried to comprehend her words. To dispose of human beings in such a way... Banagher couldn't help but compare people willing to do such things to what rumors he'd heard about regarding the Murasame Labs during the First Neo-Zeon War. Did those police officers know what they were doing? Did they ever for once consider the feelings of the Normas they treated like freaks and abominations? It wasn't like they could choose to be born as a Norma or not...

Just what kind of crazy world had he arrived in? It was the only question that the boy had as he tried to calm and compose himself while the woman in front of him could only watch silently with a solemn look.

After a moment Banagher then asked again, "...Miss Sayla. Do you... hate them too? The Normas?"

The woman was quite taken aback when she got asked like such a question. Looking away from the boy, Sayla was silent, a bit hesitant for a moment until she finally opened her mouth to answer.

"...At first, I also believed that Normas were nothing more than monsters... the vermin whose existence should be wiped out, but..." with a melancholic smile on her face, Sayla looked up at the ceilings, "I started to think otherwise when I gave birth to Serra..."

"I didn't know how or why I bore a Norma, but..." She trailed off and looked down at the table, "When I saw Serra's face while she was crying in my arms for the first time... I was so happy..."

"Even though she is a Norma… even though my husband was against my decision to keep her that he left me…" At the last part, tears started to well up in her eyes as she brought her right hand to her teary eyes to prevent them from coming out. "But... she's still my daughter... and I want to protect and raise her... just like every mother does for their child..."

"Ma'am..." At her story, Banagher could only look at the woman with a mix of regret and a guilty feeling in his heart as the latter started crying silently in front of him. To watch a person crying in front of you while you couldn't do anything in your power to help them, it was one of the things that pained Banagher the most. While he still had no idea of how the statement of Norma apparently being dangerous monsters of human society had come out in the first place nor did he want to push her to tell him more, he knew one thing for sure that this woman had gone through a lot in her life. All for the sake of keeping her baby safe.

And her husband… instead of standing by her side, he had ditched her just because of her decision to keep her own baby…

This had made him wonder if there were more Norma children out there who weren't as lucky as Serra and got taken away from their parents. That mere thought alone was more than enough to make him grimace and click his tongue in dismay.

Realizing that she was crying in front of her guest, Sayla immediately snapped out of her grief and wiped off her tears, "Oh, so-sorry about that... I guess I got a bit carried away..."

"Uh, that's okay, ma'am. If anything, I should be the one who said that..." Banagher replied, waving his hands before he lowered his head apologetically at her, "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, sorry..."

"That's okay. It's all in the past now..." The woman reassured him, wiping away her last tear with her finger. She then looked at the wall clock which already read 11:00 PM and looked back at him. "It's already late now. Why don't you get some rest? You have done some much for me today."

Banagher replied with a nod, "Yeah... thanks for filling me in..."

Since there were a lot of spare rooms in the house because she was living alone now, Sayla let Banagher to use the spare bedroom on the 2nd floor to the left corridor. Gratefully, he thanked her again for allowing him to stay overnight before he proceeded to the stairs. Once the figure of the brown haired boy was out of her sight, Sayla then stood up from her chair and decided to go sleep as well.

However, when she walked through the living room area, her eyes widened slightly at the sight of a picture on the fireplace mantle. She knew very well what that picture was; a picture of her with her husband. Reluctantly, she walked up to the fireplace and her heart felt like it had been stabbed by a thorn as soon as she laid her eyes on the picture. Those happy memories that they once had together… all of his love and care... they'd been gone for quite a long time...

All that because her husband had refused to accept his own daughter because she was a Norma...

This time, Sayla couldn't hold back her tears anymore as she let them come out, soaking her face as they fell to the floor. Sobbing with her left hand covering her crying face, she flipped down the picture, hoping that she didn't have to see it anymore as it was too painful for the woman before she went into her room. Without even bothering to change her clothes into her pajamas first, the woman slumped on her bed and then buried her face with the pillow as she wept about the cruel fate that she had to suffer.

Why did her life have to turn out like this? What had she done that she deserved such pain? Those were the only questions that were on her mind before the woman finally closed her eyes and fell asleep from exhaustion.

...

The next morning

The sound of birds chirping outside coupled with the rising sun was a good beginning that would bring anyone up in high spirits to greet the day. In the dining room where Sayla was making breakfast, there were two empty plates and a small bowl of pap on the baby table chair where Serra was sitting. With a smile on her face despite what happened yesterday, she flipped the bacons and eggs on her frying pan before she turned off the stove.

After placing them on plates, she sat down next to her baby. Noticing her mother right next to her, Serra reached her hands to her while gurgling some baby words which made Sayla smile a bit at her baby's attempt to ask for attention.

"There-there, my dear. Are you hungry?" She asked and then held the baby in her arms. As she placed her on the table, the mother then took her bowl and began to feed her.

Serra clapped her hands happily as she ate her food which made her mother smile again in happiness. After a few spoonfuls, Sayla took out a small napkin from her apron and then wiped Serra's mouth to take care of the leftovers.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, she decided to watch some morning news from the mana channel. With a single hand motion, the mother created a mana screen and then tapped on the news tab. The first thing that came out from the news channel however was something unpleasant that made her wish she never opened it, the headline about the baptism of Princess Angelise Ikaruka Misurugi.

"We are back here with the Mana Channel news."The anchorman there said and then looked around, "As we can see, today is a very important day for our country. Behind me are so many people that almost every street around here has become a sea of humans. They are all looking forward to the baptism ritual of Princess Angelise Ikaruka Misurugi."

Her expression quickly turned into disdainful frown when the screen shifted to the live image of Angelise waving her hands to the citizens while smiling. That smile of hers... it was the exact same smile that she gave after she told her to let her baby be taken away and just make another one...

Sayla clicked her tongue, as much as she wanted to dismiss the screen immediately and just finish her morning chores; curiosity had won over her dislike for the princess.

Reluctantly, she just sat there and watched the live event of the baptism ritual next to her baby while mixing a cup of coffee from her kitchen with her mana, but what the woman saw next was something that surprised her so much that if she hadn't been careful, her cup would have shattered on the floor...

With Banagher

When the sunlight reached the window of the second floor and touched the sleeping face of the Gundam pilot, Banagher winced from the bright sensation on his face, prompting him to open his eyes weakly followed by stretching his arms and letting out a long yawn before he finally woke up.

Still feeling a bit drowsy, he leaned back on his bed and looked around the room before he lowered his head, rubbing his temples in thought and trying to sort out the events that had happened yesterday.

"That's right I was..." He muttered before finally coming to a conclusion, "...Miss Sayla brought us here after we ran away from the cops and then... she let me to stay here overnight."

He brushed off his slightly rumpled clothes and then grabbed his sneakers. "I should do something in return. I'll feel bad for her if I just leave..." He thought aloud while tying up the laces.

After he finished putting on his shoes, Banagher then went downstairs and saw Sayla next to Serra while watching something on a mana screen. Just as he was about to greet her, he suddenly stopped when he noticed the dumbstruck expression on the woman's face which somehow concerned him.

"Miss Sayla? What's wrong?" He called to her, but she didn't respond. This made him wonder so he walked up next to her chair to see what she was watching. The boy gasped in shock upon seeing the news video which now was showing Angelise holding her mother Sophia who was bleeding from a gunshot would to her stomach. The first princess also had some bloodstains on her cheek and clothes.

The empress reached out her hand weakly to her daughter and said something which unfortunately they couldn't hear due to her weakened voice. But after suffering too much from blood loss, Sophia finally closed her eyes for the last time as her hand fell down and her body became limp...

"MOTHER!"Angelise's agonized cry could be clearly heard which caused Banagher to look away from the screen, closing his eyes in pain. While he didn't like the first impression of the princess nor did he have any idea of what had happened there, watching her mother dying in front of her was too much as it reminded him of when his father Cardeas died in that explosion right before his eyes.

Meanwhile, Sayla waved her hand and dismissed the mana screen while her baby just sat there, not understanding the situation one bit. Banagher looked back at Sayla whose face was now darkened, overshadowed by her hair. "Miss Sayla... what... happened?" He asked, breaking the ice as he still had no idea of what had happened on the video except for the last part he just saw.

The woman gave him a solemn look, "Angelise-sama... has just been revealed as a Norma..."

"A Norma!?" Banagher's eyes went wide in shock at this news.

"Yes..." She nodded and then looked out towards the window to her left, "The princess who almost took my baby away for being a Norma... was actually a Norma all along... how ironic..."

"Miss Sayla..." At her words, Banagher could only narrow his eyes worriedly at the woman. He could feel that the woman was having an internal struggle with her own emotions towards Angelise for what she had done.

"She finally got what she deserved... she really deserved it!" She almost yelled with those last words before she finally calmed down, "...at least until I saw Sophia-sama dying in front of her..."

"What happened to her?" He asked again.

"Her majesty took the bullet meant for Angelise-sama from the police." She answered gravely and then turned around, facing Banagher again, "And you witnessed what happened next."

There was an utter silence between the two while the baby on the table only looked back and forth between her mother and the boy, confused with their behavior. While Sayla still had a grudge against Angelise, she still felt that the princess didn't deserve to have her mother die in front of her. She'd only wanted the princess to experience what she felt when she almost lost Serra, not something like this...

Their moment of sorrow however didn't last for long as the sound of a siren suddenly echoed from outside and grew louder as time passed, surprising them including the baby who then started to cry from the noise. Seeing her baby crying, Serra immediately held and tried to calm her while Banagher rushed to the nearby window to peek outside to see where the siren was coming from.

But what he saw outside was something so terrifying that it made his pupils shrink and he gasped in horror. Outside the house were many police vehicles moving in line formation and from how it looked, it would only be a few minutes before they finally arrived.

Banagher quickly turned around to Sayla and told her, "Miss Sayla! It's the police, they are here!"

"What!?" At his words, the mother didn't have another choice but to put her baby who was still crying back in her chair and then move over to the window. Her expression then mirrored Banagher at the sight, "But how...?"

Her gaze then shifted towards her car outside and realization quickly came to her as to how they could find this place. The police must have tracked her mana car all the way here.

"W-what are we supposed to do now?" Sayla frantically asked, "At this rate, they will arrive here in minutes! No, I can't lose her again! I can't let them to take my Serra away!"

Banagher couldn't say anything as he too was confused and could only watch as they came closer. What could he do now at a time like this? Was there a way to keep the baby from being taken away from them? Looking around the house, the boy then spotted the backdoor that led to the backyard. He immediately ran over there and took a peek through the window. Right outside the terrace was a vast pasture with a pine forest beyond and there were no police vehicles in sight.

Banagher didn't waste any time as he turned around and ran towards the devastated form of Sayla and then took her hand, surprising the woman with his sudden action.

"Hurry! We can escape using the backdoor!" He said before the boy did the same to her baby with his right arm. Once again, the boy and the woman found themselves running aimlessly like hunted animals from a pack of wolves. Neither of them even bothered to erase any traces of their presence from the house. Right now the only thing that was on their minds was to run, run, and run.

Eventually Banagher, Sayla and her daughter made it into the forest. The forest was composed of very thick pine trees that made it quite hard to see what lied ahead of them. However, this kind of layout also gave the police the same problem.

Every second that passed, both the boy and the woman started getting exhausted from all the running. Their breaths with the exception of the baby's were getting heavier, enough sweat was running down their faces that some parts of their clothes had become damp from it, their heartbeats were rising uncontrollably from the tension, and their legs also became heavier and slower as they kept running ahead.

But then, Banagher suddenly had a hunch to stop running before he slowed down followed by Sayla and then finally stopped, letting go of her hand. Still panting, the Gundam pilot and the woman had now found themselves on the edge of the road right outside the woods. Below was a very deep crevasse with a river that had a very strong current that could wash away everything that fell into it.

Had he not stopped they could have fallen to their deaths and ended up as river waste or fish food...

"A dead end!?" He wondered before looking at the woman behind him over his shoulder to check if she was okay. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw Sayla's current state; the woman was holding her chest with her left hand and she was breathing uncontrollably, large portions of her clothes had been soaked by her sweat and she was still sweating a lot.

Right, he had forgotten that she didn't have as much stamina as he did because he was too busy running away from the police.

Upon his realization, the woman finally collapsed. Luckily, Banagher used his free left hand to prevent her fall, causing the woman to only fall to her knees instead.

"Miss Sayla!" He looked at the woman worriedly. The baby in his arm then reached out towards her mother while mumbling something as if she wanted to ask 'are you okay?'.

"Miss Sayla..." He said again; the concerned look on his face not changing at all, "Please rest a bit... I'm sorry, I didn't know that-"

The woman brought up her hand to cut him off. "(Pant) D-don't... worry... (pant) aboutme..." She tried to reassure him as she tried to stand again, "I'm... fine (pant) I can... still... (pant) go on..."

"No! You're too exhausted!" He exclaimed, gently holding the woman down with a hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying to stand again, "Just rest here while I look for a way out."

Not wanting to argue back with the boy since Banagher also had a point, Sayla complied with a nod before she sat down on the grass and leaned on a nearby rock. After she adjusted her posture into a more comfortable position, Banagher then put Serra down in her lap. The baby looked very happy to be in her mother's lap again as she laughed happily and then hugged her belly affectionately despite her already wet clothes.

Even though they were in a very dangerous situation where the police could catch up with them at any time, the sight of Serra hugging her mother had lifted the tension among them as both the boy and the woman eased up and smiled a bit. However, the former then turned around, leaving the baby and her mother to enjoy their moment, he could get more emotional later. Right now, his top priority was to find a way out from this perilous situation.

His eyes then spotted something that looked like a wooden bridge connected to the other side of the crevasse. From how it looked, the bridge seemed sturdy enough to hold them. This had made his face brighten up a bit; there might be a chance after all.

Banagher then turned around and approached Sayla and her baby and then told her, "Miss Sayla. There's a bridge not too far from here. Once you've recovered we can-"

But again, his words were cut off by a single raised hand from the woman. "No..." She told him, shaking her head slightly much to the boy's shock, "I won't make it..."

"W-wha?!" Banagher looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm too exhausted... I don't even have any more strength to stand up..." explained Sayla with a weak smile. A moment of silence passed between the two, she then looked down at the baby in her lap who yawned, feeling sleepy before the woman looked up at him again with a pleading look. "I'm sorry if I'm being too selfish, but... could you do me a favor just this once?"

"What is it?" The boy raised his eyebrow slightly, but the concerned look on his face was still present.

"Please take Serra with you." answered the baby's mother, "I want her to live and grow up just like how a human girl should."

"But what about you?!" He exclaimed, fearing that the woman would be apprehended by the police.

"I'll be fine..." She calmly answered him before glancing back into the woods, "They aren't after me, just Serra. If I'm lucky maybe I will only be imprisoned as my punishment for hiding a Norma."

"But...!" Banagher wanted to protest against her decision, but the look in her eyes told the Gundam pilot that she truly trusted him even though they just had known each other for a day. He also felt that it would be futile to persuade her otherwise. Reluctantly, he nodded at her, "Okay..."

Sayla looked at the sleeping form of Serra and with every bit of strength she still had in her arms, she gently lifted the baby from her lap and then placed her in Banagher's arms. "She is in your hands now, Banagher... Please... take care of her for my sake..."

This time, Banagher didn't say anything in return and only replied with a single nod. Looking down at Serra sleeping peacefully in his arms, he made a vow to himself to not allow the baby to be captured and that one day he would return her back to Serra. With a new resolve although he still had mixed feelings in his heart evident from the look on his face, Banagher then looked at the woman.

"Miss Sayla, I'll take care of her and someday I will bring her back to you. I definitely will!"

His words were more than enough to reassure her as the woman smiled a bit and watched him turn around and then run towards the bridge with her baby in his care. Sayla didn't know why but her heart believed that she could trust this boy. Ever since he saved her and Serra from the police and royal guard, she already could tell that he was different from the others. He didn't see Normas as human abominations or monster, just other human beings.

When the running figure of Banagher was finally out of her sight, a single tear was shed as the woman looked away from the bridge. She was feeling both sad and happy at the same time. Sad because once again she had been parted from her baby, but happy because of two things:

One: she had been able to spend more time with her baby even though it was only for another day.

"I heard a boy's voice! They should be nearby!" shouted one of the police officers from behind the bushes in the forest, "Call the other search team. We will sweep the area around here."

Two: because she believed that her baby would live in Banagher's care and that one day she would be reunited with Serra again. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, perhaps not for months or worse years... but she just knew that she would see her again. So as a mother, she had to be strong while waiting until that day came.

'Serra... be safe, okay? Mom will be waiting for you...' thought the mother as she looked up at the sky with a hopeful look before she faced her fate...


Goodness, I feel like having written a drama chapter here. Anyway in case you haven't noticed it yet, I changed the baby's name into Serra while using the name Sayla as the mother's. The reason is Sayla is the baby's name from official English translation of the manga and there are some mistranslated names and terms I found there whether it's a mistake or not while the Google search and CA Wiki identify the baby's name as Serra. Furthermore the wiki only listed the mother's name as Serra's mother so I gave Sayla as her name.

Have a good day, readers.