Let There be Nothing

Scene from my first story and regular canon happen if they are not contradicted.

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Video call or voice chat"

Feldt

Feldt rested against a rail in Hanger 3, watching Ian continue retuning the 0 Raiser. Ian had ordered her to take a break, saying she needed to be ready to act and he could handle it on his own. They had been at it for the last few hours and had made good progress before he told her that. She had tried to fight him on it, but Ian nagged her enough to get her to relent. She stood on the railing overlooking her machine, sipping on a water. She heard the elevator door open to her left and saw Setsuna approaching her, still in his pilot suit. She smiled at him and he glided next to her, intertwining their hands. He pecked her on the lips, "How's it going?"

She pursed her lips, "We still need a little bit of time. Re-tuning isn't easy." She could see Setsuna had a lot of tension in his shoulders.

Setsuna let out a heavy sigh, looking anxious, "It will be strange to fight without the 0 Raiser attached. And we don't know what they are sending at us."

She squeezed their linked hands, "You can hold out in the worst case. I know you can." She kissed him, feeling his smile as she did.

He relaxed, pulling her close into his side, "Thanks." He gave her a curious look, "How are you doing? Seeing your mom held hostage must have been stressful."

Feldt balled her fist in her free hand, letting out a shuddering breath. The work on the 0 Raiser had been distracting her, but the feeling of anger and betrayal hadn't left her since she had seen Soma taking Anew away. As she began to shake, Setsuna squeezed their hand, and a sense of affection flowed into her.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke, "Anew was our friend. We all trusted her. And then she put a gun to my mom's head. She even threatened to take Mileina hostage. I don't want to hate her. I hate feeling like this. But I want her to suffer! I want her to know what that betrayal feels like!" Tears rolled down her face, anger fleeing in the face of sorrow.

"My mom could have been killed! I could have lost her and there was nothing I could do!" She began to hiccup and Setsuna pulled her close. Feldt knew her anger paled in comparison to her fears about losing her mom, but she didn't want to appear weak, not right now. Her mom meant so much to her and to have someone she trusted potentially kill her would have been as bad as when Setsuna was missing for three years.

Setsuna began to caress her back, warmth running up and down her spine wherever he touched. His voice was gentle as he rested his forehead on hers, "Everyone is alright. And I'm concerned about Anew as well. But there is something going on, something none of us know about. Lyle is going to talk with her, help us figure out what is going on."

Feldt hiccupped, then bit her lip before she spoke, "How can he care about her after everything she did? She even said their relationship wasn't real to my mom."

Feldt could feel her husband's smile on her forehead, "You know more than anything that love is irrational. He gave his heart to her, and it was clear she was worried about him when I shot him. I think there is hope for her."

She sighed, knowing she would be the same if Setsuna tried something like that. She would fight hell and high water to redeem the man she loved, no matter what everyone said. She kissed his cheek, "I can't trust her, not right now. Is that wrong?" She was less asking him, more trying to question herself.

Setsuna whispered in her ear, "No. I don't trust her that much right now either. And I think most of the crew is in that camp. She threatened your mom and hurt her, however minor, and even was thinking of holding a teenager hostage. But we can't do anything rash."

She nodded, "I know." Just then, the ship alarms went off. Feldt looked at Setsuna and he just nodded back at her. She gave him a grin, "Give them hell. I'll be out there ASAP."

She pulled him in for one last kiss, teasing him with her tongue. He gave her a coy grin as the kiss broke, "They won't know what hit them."

Marlene

Marlene marched her way to the brig, preparing to interrogate Anew. If she knew where Veda was being held, then they could end this. While she wasn't the innovator they planned to catch, she would work in Revive's place.

As she reached a corner, she was surprised to see Lyle standing there in his pilot suit, arms crossed over his chest. He had a determined look on his face as he spoke, "Well, I guess my gut feeling was right. It looks like you were going to talk to Anew."

Marlene kept an even look on her face, "Interrogate. Shouldn't you be ready to potentially launch in the Cherdium?"

Lyle shook his head, "I want answers as well. And those three out there can handle it for now." Lyle looked intently at her, "Do you think you will get her to spill the beans playing bad cop?" There was a hint that he didn't believe her in his voice.

Marlene glared, "I can certainly try."

Lyle rolled his eyes, but Marlene could see desperation in them, "Commander, how about I join you, playing the good cop. You can try, then I can try. Two methods, two options." He took a breath, "I need to know how she feels. If what we had was real."

Despite her misgivings about Lyle, she felt a small tug on her heartstrings. 'Becoming soft has been a little annoying.' She let out a deep sigh, narrowing her eyes, "Fine, but I need you to have your gun ready in case she tries something."

He glared at her, "Are you saying I should be ready to kill her?" Marlene could easily detect his dislike of the idea.

"Technically, yes. But realistically, I just expect you to shoot a knee or shoulder to disable her in case she tries to hurt either of us."

Lyle nodded his head at that, his glare disappearing, "I would hate to do it, but if it comes down to it…" There was still reluctance in her voice, but Marlene wouldn't hold it against him too much. Hurting people you love, even if they were an enemy, wouldn't be easy for anyone.

The blonde just nodded, "Then follow along." The pair made their way to the brig and as she opened the door, she could see Anew leaning against one of the walls, looking blankly at the opposite wall, hands shackled behind her back. Her head turned to face the pair coming into the room, glaring at Marlene, though the expression softened slightly when her eyes met Lyle's, "I see my wardens have come to interrogate me."

Marlene matched her glared, tapping the gun on her waist, "You are lucky we decided to keep you alive. Any of us could have easily killed you, but we are more merciful than the innovators." In her peripheral vision she spotted Lyle ready to pull his gun out, though a flicker of worry went through his eyes at the mention of killing her.

Anew just looked at her evenly, "And that is where you fail. If you don't kill those who get in your way, you will get nothing." Anew didn't look like she was going to act aggressive at the moment, though Marlene mentally stayed on her toes, ready for anything.

"I'm not here to trade barbs. I'm here to get info from you, which would be in your best interest." Marlene crossed her arms over her chest, "Where are you hiding Veda?"

Anew smirked, "Jumping to that right out of the gate? If Revive wasn't going to give you an answer, why would I?"

"Because this time you don't have a rescue team. No one to help you from the inside." Marlene maintained an even look, smirking slightly, "And what are the odds that your fellow innovators would come to rescue you? It would just be better to destroy the ship."

A small, ugly glare crossed the innovator's eyes before Anew went back to a controlled expression, "And if I did die, it would be in service to the innovators. I know where I go when I die, so I'm not afraid." Anew looked over at Lyle for a second before looking back at Marlene, "Besides, even if you took control of Veda, could you really use it better than us? Veda did put a bomb collar on you. It's not like it's any more moral than us."

Marlene grit her teeth, "That was a different time and I was a different woman."

Anew just grinned, "You got weaker." Marlene grit her teeth, not wanting to dignify Anew anymore.

Lyle looked over at her, silently asking what Anew was talking about, "I'll tell you later." He nodded at her, keeping his focus back on his girlfriend. 'Former girlfriend? This whole betrayal made this confusing.'

Marlene continued, "So you are going to stay silent then?" Anew just smirked. Marlene huffed in annoyance, "If you won't talk about that, then what did you do to the ship?"

"Oh I'm sure you can tell. We deleted some data, disabled some systems, the usual sabotage thing."

Marlene put her hands on her hips, "But what did you send out? We saw you copied some data, though we don't know exactly what."

Anew's eyes lit up, "Oh, just your trump card. The twin drive system is very interesting." Her eyes suddenly glowed gold and she flinched in pain, the gold disappearing, "Well it looks like Ribbons wasn't happy about that. That was technically classified, so call it a gift."

Marlene looked at the smirking woman, anger building. 'Not only did they steal the twin drive system, they also seemingly have trans-am and I'm guessing Ribbons can talk to any innovator.' Those would all be issues they would have to deal with. 'Hopefully it takes them a while to do anything with that data.'

Marlene balled her fist, "Does Ribbons know that he is a monster? That we are coming for him?"

"Oh certainly. Naturally he disagrees with the idea that he is wrong, but he wishes you luck in finding him." The small smile at the end just made Marlene glare.

Lyle jumped in, looking at the blonde woman, "Marlene, it looks like we aren't going to get through to her this way. Care to let me try?" Marlene nodded, but then an alarm went off, signaling the approach of an enemy. Lyle just casually smiled at the Celestial Being commander, "Looks like I'll have to work fast."

Anew looked confused, eyes jumping from one Celestial Being member to the other, "Lyle, what do you mean?"

Lyle looked at her with reluctance, "Anew, why did you betray us? We were all your friends." His voice became more hurt, "Why did you betray me?"

Anew, seemingly shaken by this event, spoke with a softer, less confident voice, "I was just doing what I was supposed to. Revive reminded me who I was and my mission." 'So she wasn't aware of what she was. That explains her anger.' Anew froze for a second, realizing what she just said, "I was doing what was best for the planet, for humanity."

Lyle smiled softly at her, "What happened to trying to understand each other? We loved each other and you had friends on the crew. Surely you can't believe that manipulating humanity is what is best for us?" Lyle floated right in front of her, begging her to understand with his eyes, "Was what we had real? Or was it all fake?"

Anew looked away from him, trying to get back control of herself, "It was all fake. You were simply a means to an end." Her voice became shaky, "I didn't…You were just convenient stress reliever. Nothing more." Her eyes betrayed her, and Marlene could tell Anew didn't believe what she said.

"All those nights we shared, all the stories of the past we talked about. None of those meant anything?" Marlene could see Lyle was trying to resist crying, which he was mostly successful at. Meanwhile, Anew looked like it was getting harder and harder to maintain her confident façade.

"I don't want to care! I don't want to have to hurt! My mission would have been so much easier if I didn't-"

"Fall in love." Lyle finished the sentence for her, a few tears going down his cheek. He gently caressed her face, wiping away her tears, "Anew, I still love you after everything that just happened. The rest of the crew may hate you, but I don't. I will never stop fighting for you."

More tears streaked down Anew's face, her confident façade fully breaking down, "Oh Lyle, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Lyle pulled her in for a hug, and even Marlene could feel a little bad for Anew. She was torn between duty and love, even if that duty was evil. Granted it still didn't make up for what she did, but it answered the question that there was more going on behind the scenes.

Anew pressed her face into Lyle's shoulder, trying to get as much affection as she could. Marlene's heart warmed at the sight, despite her dislike of one side of the party. Anew whimpered as Lyle broke the hug, the man smiling with love at her, "Anew, I want to help you. I want you to be free. But you need to tell us everything you can."

He looked at Marlene, "If she gave us info, could she be brought back into the crew."

Marlene crossed her arms over her chest, giving Anew a look, "That would have to be discussed between Sumeragi and I, but the data would need to be verified."

He looked hopefully at Anew, "Just tell her and everything can get better."

Anew reluctantly nodded, looking at Marlene, wiping away the last of her tears, though her eyes were still a bit red and puffy, "Ribbons created all of us innovators that oppose you. Most of us were combat models, but I was created to gather intelligence. I was created and given a fake backstory to join Celestial Being. I wasn't even aware of what I was. There are others on Earth, but they were not relevant to Celestial Being."

Lyle floated near her, wrapping an arm around her in support. Marlene rolled her eyes, but indicated to Anew to continue, which the innovator did, "Ribbons can talk to any of us that he created, and he is the main admin of Veda. As for where Veda is, I think I can use my connection to…" She trailed off, her eyes glowing gold as her expression contorted in pain, "Please Ribbons! No!"

Both Celestial Being members looked on her in horror and concern, Anew grabbing her head in pain, groaning. Lyle moved to help her, but suddenly her expression shifted to a malicious smile, her tone completely changed, "Well it looks like you are trying to access information you don't have the right to know. So it seems I will have to shut you down." Anew laughed, something not seeming normal, "Goodbye, primitive humans."

Anew's eyes rolled into the back of her head as blood began coming out of her ears and nose. Marlene's eyes widened and Lyle jumped into action, grabbing Anew, "Anew! Anew!" She didn't respond to his shaking and Lyle looked at Marlene, "I think whoever that was, was fucking with her head! We need to get her to a healing pod!" Anew's face showed an expression of pain as she suffered.

Marlene, knocked out of her shock, nodded. The two rushed to the medbay, the unconscious woman's blood floating in the hallway of the ship as she was carried to the medbay. Opening the door for the medbay for Lyle, he looked on in absolute fear as he laid her in the healing pod. Marlene entered the room, quickly activating the regeneration treatment, watching with bated breath, hoping the bleeding would stop. Enemy or not, dying of what was probably a brain hemorrhage wasn't something she wished on any enemy.

She and Lyle both let out a breath of relief as the blood tapered off. Marlene wouldn't say she was celebrating for the same reason as Lyle, but their source of information was alive. Looking at the display, she gave Lyle a nod, "She'll need to be in there for a while and I don't know when she will come out exactly. Probably at least a day. Whatever happened to her messed with her brain and that's a rather dangerous injury."

Lyle leaned against a wall, looking up at the ceiling, "What just happened?"

"It seems someone didn't want us to know about certain things. So they shut down that access to us." Marlene looked over, a worried look on her face, "I can't help but feel a little bad for her." 'Ribbons shutting us out is getting annoying.'

Lyle laughed and she could tell he was trying to hide his true feelings, "I never expected to hear that from you. I would have thought you would have let her bleed out."

Marlene spoke more quietly, "No one deserves to die like that. I don't like her or trust her and probably won't for a long time. But she is still a person, artificial or not."

Lyle gave her a look of respect, "Thank you. For my part, I'm sorry for how I acted when I joined the crew. I wasn't exactly loyal to you guys fully."

Marlene nodded, "It was kind of obvious. But I admit I was a bit harsh to you. Trying to ask someone to just change their loyalty is an impossible ask. I would have been the same if I had been in the same position. It also helped Katharon was on our side in terms of goals, so I didn't fear you would betray us."

Lyle just shrugged, "It's fine. I didn't help my own case. Honestly, it was fun to make you annoyed, so I don't begrudge you spying on me or being frustrated with me. Are we friends now?"

Marlene laughed, the tension from the interrogation fully leaving her, "God no!" She took a deep, bated breath, "But you're ok. You are solidly in my good books as a subordinate."

The brunette grinned at her, "Thank god. I don't think you and I would ever fully get along if we were friends. I wouldn't know what to do if you agreed to that." He then looked at the door out of the medbay, "I think it's time I joined the rest of the meisters. Can you keep an eye on Anew."

Marlene silently agreed and Lyle pushed out of the room, Marlene's smile turning to a frown. She looked at the unconscious woman. 'The innovators are willing to throw away their own people. How could they do that? I maybe rough, but I would never sacrifice someone so cruelly.' She hoped that they had another option to find Veda, because it seems the innovator option was a dead end.

Setsuna

The 00, Arios and Seravee began to approach the enemy signals on their sensors. Setsuna certainly felt less secure without the 0 Raiser, but he would have to deal with that until Feldt could fix it up. And Lyle was apparently helping Marlene on the ship, so they were down him for now. 'He's probably talking to Anew. Hope that goes well.' Tieria's voice echoed in his cockpit, "Three enemies detected. And it looks like one is a mobile armor. Everyone be careful."

Setsuna responded affirmatively and saw two of the suits were ones they fought before, specifically the Gadessa with the large cannon and the Garazzo, which had the beam saber hands. But beside them was a black mobile armor with red highlights, which heavily resembled the mobile armor he and Feldt had fought at the pillar. 'An upgraded version?'

Suddenly the center maw of the armor opened up and a large orange energy beam, shooting towards the three meisters. The three Gundams easily dodged the blast, but the beam then curved, angling back towards the Gundams. Setsuna's eyes widened as he dodged out of the way. 'That definitely wasn't on the Empruss!' He narrowed his focus on the mobile armor, the maw staying open. He called out to the other meisters, "The rest of you fight the other suits. I'll engage the mobile armor!"

Tieria's voice showed a hint of worry, "Are you sure you can handle that? You don't have the 0 Raiser."

Setsuna nodded, "I can keep it distracted at the very least."

Allelujah's voice chimed in, "Understood. Just stay alive Setsuna."

Setsuna nodded at that, "I can't die. I have a wife that would be mad at me if I did." The meisters chuckled but all separated to engage their own suits. Tieria went to engage the Gadessa, and Allelujah the Garazzo. Charging towards this new threat, Setsuna was forced to dodge a few more blasts, luckily avoiding any of the curving beams. As he got close enough, he began to fire with his blaster swords, a few hitting the frame doing minimal damage before it put up a GN field, causing Setsuna to growl. 'Well it's a good thing I have swords.'

A man's voice came out of the armor, one he recognized from the last big battle, "There you are Gundam! Now I get my revenge for Captain Zanin!" The red finger-looking things shot of the suit, beginning to fly around Setsuna, red blasts coming out of them. 'These again.' Setsuna let his new instincts and reflexes help guide his dodging, avoiding all of the attacks coming at him, though that forced him to battle defensively, all his energy focused on surviving the attacks coming from all around him. 'At least this pilot seems to be focused on me.'

Setsuna called back out to the pilot, hitting one of the flying drones after several shots missed, "He was willing to kill innocent people! How can you support that?" The 00 was grazed by one of the blasts, though Setsuna managed to avoid the brunt of the hit, leaving only surface damage.

The pilot's voice was angry and prideful as he responded, "Well it looks like you aren't as good without that other machine, are you? Now you know what it feels like to be weak and unable to help the people you care about! The Regnant will show you exactly how weak you are!"

Setsuna growled as the drones around him were too numerous for him to really focus and aim. He had to be constantly on the move or he would be overwhelmed. Lucky for him, they were unable to keep up with him, but he didn't know how long that would last. Setsuna switched one blaster to a sword, cutting through one of the drones around him, "Why are you fighting for the innovators? They were willing to kill millions of people!"

Andrei responded in a slightly desperate tone and Setsuna could detect a hint of loss in his words, "You create destruction and chaos! The world was at peace before you people showed up again. We were so close to making a fully unified Earth. And the innovators will ensure that will happen!" The mobile armor moved closer, shooting out the electric wire at the 00, which Setsuna barely dodged. Setsuna could feel the sweat building up on his forehead. 'That was close. If he caught me in that I would be dead.'

"So you are willing to kill anyone to create peace? To kill innocent people to ensure no one opposed the government?" Setsuna was disgusted by the length this man was willing to go to ensure peace, but at the same time, reminded him of a younger version of himself. Ali had him convinced that the only way to be a good person and holy warrior was to kill people in the name of his god. This man genuinely believed he was helping make a better world. Some guilt ran through Setsuna at his old actions, but he shook that off, knowing he had to keep focus. 'Would I have been like this if I had been found by Ribbons? Or the government?' The thought scared him. 'How many good people have been manipulated saying this is the right thing to do?'

Taking another shot at the Regnant, which was blocked by a GN field, Andrei spoke again, "You were the ones who started all this! You killed all those soldiers and civilians, especially after those new Gundams showed up! You are all monsters! Now die!"

Ignoring the irony of Andrei saying that, Setsuna noted he wasn't completely wrong. They had created all of this. Granted some of it was indirect, but it still stung a little to know Celestial Being played a role in this. 'Though Ribbons is probably feeding him false info related to the Trinities.' Yet at the same time, he realized he would never get through to this man, not like this. He was too under the thumb of the innovator and had even killed his father in service of that. As he got another drone with his blade, the face of an angel appeared on his screen, "I should be there soon darling! I just launched." She smirked at him, "Looks like you were having issues."

He grinned at that, "Nothing I couldn't handle, though some help would be nice." Feldt grinned back and he could see her getting closer on his sensors. 'I'll end this as fast as possible when she docks with the 00.' As he kept dodging, he saw Feldt gracefully dodging enemy fire, her skills clearly have grown over the last four months.

Andrei yelled out at the two meisters, "I'm not letting you dock!" He took another shot with the large beam, but she narrowly dodged that with a barrel roll, taking out a drone with a barrage of missiles. She closed in and Setsuna could see the 00 beginning to dock with the 0 Raiser, Haro yelling out about it. As he felt the impact of the docking, he felt the power flow through both machines. The Regnant pilot growled in anger, clearly frustrated.

Setsuna gave Feldt a nod, "I'm activating trans-am!" She nodded at him and the 00 began to glow red, GN particles flooding the battlefield. Feldt and Setsuna could both feel the bond that Soma had mentioned, both of their emotions and thoughts flowing to each other. It was surface level stuff, but Setsuna could understand what Soma meant by hidden power. He could feel Feldt's confidence in him and he sent back the same feeling, hoping she would feel it. Smirking, the 00 Raiser easily got out of the hive of surrounding drones, taking out three of them with one blast.

Andrei, done talking, shot out the electric wires as he recalled the drones, but it shot straight through the 00 Raiser, the GN particle ghost scattering. Setsuna sent another blast at the Regnant, but once again the machine put up its GN field. Thinking on his feet, he threw one of his blades, which impacted the field and fired on it, shooting into the mobile armor. It hit one of the joints, and an explosion caused sparks to shoot out of the machine.

Seeing the machine was limping from that, Setsuna turned his attention to the other suits. Allelujah and Tieria seemed to be holding their own. He actually noticed the super soldier piloting with increased skill, going rings around the innovator suit. He spoke to Feldt, "It looks like Allelujah and Soma are enhanced by these particles."

Feldt responded with curiosity, "It certainly does. But it looks like Tieria is struggling. We need to help him." He could see Tieria in melee with the enemy suit, both of them equally matched. Both had seemed to have lost their cannons, so Tieria was definitely not in his element. Setsuna took aim with his blaster, cutting through the legs and head of the Gadessa, which quickly shot off into space. He was about to refocus on the Regnant, but three flares appeared in the distance. The enemy mobile suits disengaged from the fight, retreating after the Regnant put up a smoke screen. Setsuna was about to pursue when Sumeragi popped up on his display.

"All Gundams disengage and return to the ship." Setsuna responded affirmatively and began to fly back to the ship, the trans-am dissipating, the mental bridge connection the couple dying in intensity, though not completely disappearing. With a small, tired smile, he looked at Feldt, "I definitely needed back up there. You work fast."

Feldt shrugged, "Well I know the system in and out, so I could speed the process up." She must have caught a hint of him reflecting, because she gave him a concerned look, "Are you ok Setsuna?" It was strange to him just how in tune they were, in and out of combat. Normally she was good at reading him and vice versa, but now they could do it subconsciously, not that he was complaining.

Setsuna let out a breath, "When I was fighting the black mobile armor, he reminded me a bit of myself when I was a child, and even a bit like five years ago."

"What do you mean?" Her concern shifted a bit to curiosity, tilting her head.

"He seemed so dedicated and so desperate to bring the innovators plan to fruition. And to kill us. He doesn't question any of his orders, seeing them as the correct path, no matter what happens or how many people die." Setsuna looked down at his hands, seeing the metaphorical blood on it, "Would I have been like that? Could I have turned into a monster like that?" A hint of doubt travelled through him, his voice weakening at the end.

Feldt's comforting words cut through that doubt, "Setsuna, you were a child at the time, being manipulated by a psycho mercenary. You grew and got more mature, able to actually reflect on those actions. Do you think he is doing it? That he is thinking that he may be wrong?" Setsuna shook his head and she continued, "He is an adult and willingly following a monster. He would never understand whatever you told him. So don't let him get to you."

He smiled warmly at his wife, "You are right. I just can't help feeling a little sympathy, as well as fearing what I would have become if I didn't join Celestial Being." His voice picked up a loving tone, "Or meeting you."

Feldt blushed at that, reminding him of teenage her as she looked down at her lap, "You would have grown more open without me."

Setsuna shook his head, "Without you, my heart would not be as open to love, or see a future for myself." She blushed even more pink, it spreading across her face.

She shooed him, "You're making me blush!"

He smiled at her, "You look adorable." He winked at her, "But I suppose I can hold back on the flirting."

She looked back up at him, her eyes full of affection and a shy smile on her face, "I didn't say to stop."

He smiled at her, but another feeling washed over him. 'I hope Soma is ready, because Andrei isn't going to be easy.'

Feldt

Feldt cuddled up against Setsuna, the adrenaline from the battle having worn off. The ship was still undergoing system fixing, which Feldt said she could help, but Sumeragi just told her to get some rest and that they could handle it. The married couple had gotten back in their casual uniforms, though they only put on the undershirt.

It was actually nice to rest in the dark, even if it was due to sabotage from Anew. Feldt had asked her mom what she found out from Anew, but her mom had groused that they got very little and now the lavender-haired innovator was unconscious in the medbay after somebody, probably Ribbons, mentally attacked her. Feldt resisted the urge to visit her, her anger still not having abated fully. 'She'll have to make up for a lot if she wants me to forgive her.'

Setsuna caressed her back, causing a happy shiver down her spine. He looked her in the eyes, concerned, her heart racing a bit at the loving softness in his eyes, "Is it Anew?" She just silently nodded, and he cuddled her close, Feldt resting her head on his chest. He was the best body pillow and she wouldn't trade anything for that.

Saji's voice chimed over the ship, echoing in their room, "We are shutting down the shipboard systems, so we are shutting down power for the moment." The room got even darker, the emergency lights turning off. And as Feldt looked at her husband, her eyes widened. Instead of just his normal reddish-brown, there was a dull golden glow. 'Like Anew.' A shiver of fear went through her before she could stop it.

Setsuna looked at her with curiosity, confusion coming over their bond. 'So he must have sensed my fear.' Regret came over her, hating that was her first reaction. Normal power suddenly came back on, bathing their room in bright light. And the glow in his eyes was gone, replaced by their normal color.

She looked apologetically at Setsuna, "I'm sorry I-"

Setsuna just caressed her loose hair, "It's alright. I know you aren't afraid of me. You saw a glow too, huh?"

She tilted her head in confusion, "What?"

"Your eyes had a golden glow in them, which I'm guessing you saw in mine."

She nodded, leaning into his hand going through her hair, "I just saw them, and my mind immediately jumped to Anew. Her eyes had the same glow as that. Well brighter, but the same." She let out a small sigh, "What does this mean for us? Are we like them?"

Setsuna kissed her on the forehead, "Feldt, both of us know we are human. Maybe we are developing similar powers to them, so that's why it looks the same."

Feldt silently laughed, her nervousness fading away, "When did you get so smart?" He just laughed quietly and the redhead wouldn't say she didn't enjoy feeling the vibrations from his laugh on his chest.

She looked at him thoughtfully, "So are we becoming innovators? It could be whatever these powers we have are what the innovators named themselves after."

Setsuna shrugged his shoulders, "That sounds plausible, but when we capture Veda, we might be able to dig up more info." He then smiled at her, blushing, "You did look pretty with those golden eyes."

Feldt buried her face on Setsuna's chest, trying to hide her embarrassment. 'Somehow he's still able to get to me with compliments like that.' She could feel his pride and happiness at getting her to react like this, causing her face to heat up even more.

As he ran a hand down her side, his voice took on a more serious tone, "Something big is going to happen. Something with us. I can feel it in my bones."

Feldt closed her eyes and for once she could sense what he was talking about. It took her a few seconds of hard concentration, but something was guiding her, like it was almost instinctive. This bond, their powers, were growing and there was almost a metaphorical lid on it. 'This is what Soma must have sensed.' It was strange to be able to actively feel something, unlike their passive nature before.

She just nodded, opening her eyes again, "I…admit I'm nervous, but we have to face this head on, whether we like it or not, don't we?" He just nodded and brought her into a short kiss. She smiled into the kiss, happy she wasn't alone in dealing with all this. And happy Setsuna wasn't alone either.

Author Note

That's chapter 17! That was a doozy but it was fun to have the Anew scene. Certainly a change in canon. And the battle was fun because I got to show how Andrei and Setsuna are similar in motivation in certain ways. Hope you people enjoyed it and I'll see you guys next week! Please review and comment!