Author's Pre-Chapter Notes: Have fun reading this concluding chapter and continue past the end for more notes!

("Normal Dialogue" / "Thought" / "Innovator Mental Projection")


"Anew! Wait up!" Feldt attempted to hail her fellow comrade, as the latter practically zipped past her and down the corridor.

It had been about a day since the last fighting against the Innovators - or rather the group of rogue Innovades that had proclaimed themselves Innovators - and the Ptolemaios II had managed to get away from the battlefield at the dark side of the moon relatively unnoticed by the approaching fleet of the Earth Sphere Federation Forces, even with the heavy damage that the warship took in the battle. Whilst keeping their distance, Ptolemy started to fix itself up in earnest and take stock of the situation.

With Veda under Tieria's control - even if he did not have a physical body now - Celestial Being had achieved their primary strategic objective. But all of the Gundams were not in any sort of usable condition at the moment, and they had lost both of the 00 Raiser's GN Drives due to the events of the battle. Furthermore, all of the surviving Meisters had some form of injury that they were currently recovering from.

Between the ship repairs and overseeing the recovery of the Meisters, Anew was spreading herself thin. Feldt was not even sure herself whether Anew had slept at all since their mission began, or at least after they had finally managed to recover the mangled Exia Repair II with a concussed Setsuna inside.

"Anew!" The pink-haired tactical operator shouted, finally getting the lavender-haired Innovade's attention. Anew ran a hand along the wall to arrest her momentum, finding her footing on the floor.

"Feldt? Sorry if I didn't hear you earlier."

"It's alright. Where are you headed to?" Feldt asked, hoping not to be excessively awkward.

"Access port at the stern. Need to oversee the Karels doing the hull repairs there. After that, I'm heading back to the medical bay to check on Setsuna."

"I can help you with that." Feldt offered.

"He has six broken ribs, four torn ligaments and a concussion, Feldt. It's a complex case."

"It's not like I'm taking him out of the regeneration pod. Just reading the vitals and seeing if anything is abnormal." Feldt tried to reassure, to no avail.

"I got it." Anew replied, in a slightly harsh tone. "After that, I'll-"

"Anew." Feldt felt the need to sharply cut Anew off before she rambled on.

"Y-yes?" A sudden shakiness seemed to take hold in Anew.

"When was the last time you took a rest?"

Anew looked very lost and crestfallen once Feldt asked that question. "I… don't remember. But I can't really take a rest now can I? Not while there's still so much to be done."

"Anew…" Feldt, whilst sympathetic, had to take a while to consider her words. "We're all one family aboard Ptolemy. And right now, we're concerned about you."

Anew looked at Feldt in disbelief. "A-about me?"

"Indeed. Mileina especially, and she's been obvious when she is concerned about anyone on board, but Sumeragi has taken note too. I did hear Ian also grumble about you having way too much energy compared to himself…"

"I… I see." Anew looked down at her own hands, the shaky feeling from before subsiding. "I…"

"Please don't take it too hard on yourself. It's alright if you take a rest; we all understand." Feldt assured the Innovade, who seemed to let down some of the uptightness that she had built up all the while.

"Ok… Um… I…" Anew shakily replied.

"Perhaps you can check on the hull repairs first before you rest? I'm sorry if I was a bit too overbearing just now."

"P-perhaps… Thank you, Feldt. I'm sorry for making all of you worry about me."

"It's what we do Anew. Keep an eye out for one another." Feldt assured her. "Would you like me to accompany you to the access port?"

"Oh, there's no need to." It was now Anew's turn to provide reassurance. "I'll just go over, report on the progress to Ian, then head back to my room."

"About that…"

"Hmm?"

"We cleared out your room after you, well, escaped." Feldt stated matter-of-factly, belatedly realising that Anew did not currently, technically, have a place of her own on Ptolemy to rest. "Had to check if you left anything to further spy on us with."

"Oh… then… where's all of my stuff?"

"With Lyle." Feldt answered, causing Anew to redden in embarrassment. "Literally took all the boxes and walked off to his room before we could even discuss whether to throw them out."

"...Oh." Anew replied. "Well, not like I have not stayed in there before…"

"I sincerely doubt it would be your first time sharing a room with him." Feldt remarked, causing Anew to uncharacteristically redden up even more.

"Feldt, please. I mean you're right but it's just…" Anew felt her heart oddly flutter amidst the embarrassment she was going through, taking a few deep breaths to settle herself.

"Sorry." Feldt retreated slightly. "Um, if you want I can talk to Miss Sumeragi and-"

"It's alright Feldt! I'll… work things out with Lyle. T-thanks for letting me know." Anew turned to head off again to Ptolemy's stern, her blush refusing to fade.


When Lyle got back to his room, the last thing he expected was Anew, still in her space suit, rummaging through his cupboard fervently.

"Eh? Anew?" Lyle called out from the door. The lavender-haired Innovade seemed alarmed for she stood straight, eyes wide open like a doe in headlights.

"H-hi, Lyle." Anew attempted to greet him, although she sounded far less confident than usual, and even a little bit unwell.

"You, uh, alright there? Looking for something?"

"Yeah, um, Feldt said you have my stuff and…" Anew trailed off, raising Lyle's concern yet again.

"Well, uh.." Lyle tried to clarify the situation, running a hand through his brown locks while nervously laughing, "I did take them with me after they searched your room. But, wouldn't you want to stay with me in the same room now? I mean, the Innovators are gone as far as we know, and they can't get to you now-"

"It… It's not about them, Lyle." Anew interrupted, shivering. "It's… me."

"You? Honey.." Lyle reached out for Anew's open hand, only to be swatted away.

"Don't 'honey' me. I betrayed all of you once before."

"But you came back. And you stayed with us through it all."

"But still!" Anew uncharacteristically shouted. "Still, I…"

"Anew…" Lyle took a step forward, but froze when Anew gave him the most tearful expression he had ever seen her give.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I can't be your woman, I need… I need space. To think about it. To see if I actually should be the woman that is by your side."

With that, Anew scrounged up whatever she had managed to dig out of Lyle's cupboard that was hers and hurriedly rushed out of his room. For his part, Lyle did not pressure Anew to stay and reconsider, only giving a resigned sigh once she had actually left.

"Everything alright?" Allelujah peeked his head in from the doorway. "Heard a commotion, are things okay between you two?"

"No. Nothing's alright." Lyle mentioned with a sigh. "She wanted some time away. Said she needed to rethink if she should be someone I love."

"Ouch. Sounds awful."

"Did Marie ever do that to you?" Lyle asked out of curiosity.

"No. Even when Soma got incredibly mad at me, the most that happened was I slept on the floor while she took the whole bed."

Lyle seemed miffed enough that he stared at Allelujah, and the Kazakh super-soldier took that as a sign he needed to make himself scarce immediately. Which he did.


The concept of sleep was irrelevant to Tieria, now a personality within Veda's internal realm. So when he detected Anew trying to open quantum brainwave communications with him specifically, he only noted that she was doing it at a time she would normally be asleep at, with no particular concern.

"Good evening, Anew." Tieria would greet warmly. He sensed a cloud of anguish around Anew, piquing his interest.

"Hi." She would curtly reply, and in her tone Tieria could distinctly tell she was bothered about something.

"Are you feeling well, Anew?" Tieria asked in a very polite tone. Anew barely flinched, which changed Tieria's interest to concern.

"I am alright."

"I see. Well, you'd be pleased to know that I have managed to isolate the mechanism through which Ribbons had controlled your body with. It was an access override mechanism he hard-coded to his own personality privileges, which of course I have permanently removed along with all chances of him ever escaping Veda's confinement. 87.178 billion interlocking layers of data encryption will do that."

"Ok." Anew replied monotonously.

"... Is something bothering you, Anew?" Tieria asked in his nicest tone, although the harsh cloud he sensed around Anew only seemed to intensify. "If it's not something that you want to talk-"

Tieria was interrupted by Anew projecting a sigh. "I… I can't sleep. I'm thinking about… myself and Lyle. Our relationship."

"I am here to listen." Tieria reassured her.

Anew projected another sigh. "I… don't understand a lot of things. But… Lyle has been so eager for us to just continue where we left off, ignoring… everything."

"Regarding your involvement with Ribbons and the Innovators?"

"Yes, exactly! And I tried to kill him without care! How is he so… so forgiving?"

"It is perhaps human nature to forgive easily, particularly when the circumstances allow it." Tieria surmised.

"But it's not rational! By all accounts he should be hating me with all his being!"

"Humans are not wholly rational." Tieria chuckled. "But that is part of human nature as well."

"B-but…" Anew seemingly wavered, giving Tieria the opportunity to get her to realise the point he wanted to make on her own.

"Perhaps you are not thinking about this all that rationally yourself, Anew."

"I…" Anew held back from communicating, evidently having to take a moment to ponder. "Is this… what it is like to be a human?"

"I cannot say for sure." Tieria had to admit, for he was not an omnipotent deity despite his current form and residence. "But I too had to grapple with that question years ago, when my link to Veda was cut off. And my conclusion was, and still is, that it is indeed what it is like to be a human."

"It's… scary. Being so unsure, emotional and not having the answers is scary."

"Nobody has figured everything out, Anew. No human, nor Innovade, has." Tieria reassured Anew. He almost brought up Ribbons by name, but thought much better of it. "That doesn't stop humanity from continuing on, searching for the answers, as well as allowing their natural emotions to manifest."

The mental cloud that had seemed to surround Anew all the while gradually faded, although some wisps seemed to linger. "I'm sorry," she began to apologise, "I think I might have said too much, wasted your time."

"Please do not apologise, Anew. There is nothing wrong in having such strong beliefs. In loving someone, despite it seeming incongruent with the reality in front of you."

Tieria could sense Anew nodding, quietly, evidently still trying to digest all the information and realisations from their conversation. "Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?" He offered.

"Um, if you could…"


Lyle was rarely awakened on his own alarm. Most of the time, Ptolemy's ship-wide alarm would get him to wake up, not the personal alarms from his digital clock. And his alarm-missing habits never improved when he and Anew became closer as a couple; if anything, they just became worse, and there had been mornings where they blew through all of their self-set alarms combined.

But this particular morning was different. Lyle came to well before his alarm, for the latter was quiet. And for some reason, he felt a reassuring warmth all over his back and around his diaphragm, which his barely-awake mind barely comprehended.

What he did comprehend, though, was the soothing voice mumbling behind him:

"Mmm, Lyle… I love you…"

"Anew! She's back!" Lyle's mind seemed to wake up upon the realisation, though he stilled his body so as not to ruin the admittedly comfortable moment. The next few minutes were spent in that still silence, with Lyle only daring to put his hand on hers, being content with appreciating her presence and close proximity to him particularly after her outburst the day before.

Anew's soft groaning would conclude those moments as she slowly awoke herself. "U-um… Lyle?" She began albeit haltingly, "I'm sorry for yesterday, I…"

"It's ok, Anew. You came back willingly, right?"

"Yes. And… I would like to stay. To be your woman, not leaving your side." Anew requested, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Of course you may." Lyle happily accepted, shifting around to face her. "I love you, Anew."

Her cheeks threatened to have a deeper shade of red than her irises. Luckily for her, Lyle's clock began to blare its obnoxious alarm, allowing her to reach behind and smack the clock into silence.

"Guess we're both up early for once." Lyle quipped, which resumed Anew's seeming train of embarrassment. Out of options, Anew sprung a surprise, moving forwards and pressing her lips to his, with a passion she allowed herself to have, having accepted the irrationality of her love of Lyle.

That kiss left Lyle in a daze, but Anew was not done. She brought her left leg over and around his legs, hooking around his waist and pressing herself that much closer to him with her calf and heel. "We… have about an hour till breakfast." Anew stated, her coy confidence masking her earlier embarrassment and nervousness. "Shall we?"

Lyle certainly was not about to protest her feistiness and eagerness. Even if it eventually meant that they almost missed out on breakfast entirely.


A month passed without incident since the climactic battle with the Innovators. With the Earth Sphere Federation free from the puppet strings of Ribbons Almark, its new leadership rapidly set about on a path of reform, dismantling the A-LAWS and committing to a path of peaceful and voluntary integration of the countries that still refrained from joining their borders and those that had been forcibly subjugated by the A-LAWS and the Innovators.

Without any present or potential threats to intervene against, Celestial Being reorientated to more strategic initiatives. The week before, Linda and Celestial Being's best engineers, save for Ian, left for Jupiter on a mission to create new GN Drives, while the Ptolemy descended to Earth for the crew to take a short rest and settle personal matters. That was how Anew found herself in suburban Dublin, accompanying Lyle as he paid respects to his family.

It still felt surreal for Anew to be visiting a cemetery. As an Innovade, death was never a concern for her; between the always-active nanomachines within her body, in much higher quantities than Celestial Being ever administered to any of their staff, and Veda's "recalls" that recycled and reset active personalities, she could practically live forever in a single body, if not with a permanent identity and set of memories due to the "recalls".

Yet she was in a place where humans buried and remembered the dead. For whom life was a singular, one-way trip that had already ended.

"Do they… not have separate graves?" Anew asked gingerly, as she laid a bouquet of flowers in front of the Dylandy family gravestone, accompanying another bouquet laid by Lyle.

"They do." Lyle answered grimly. "At least, my parents and Amy do. But Neil's body was never found by anybody. His coffin is empty."

"... I see." Anew brushed a fallen leaf off the gravestone with the back of her hand, before rising to her feet again and stepping back to be with her lover. The gravestone looked weathered and grim, a sombre memorial for a family whom she believed had been a warm and loving one before the tragedies that befell them. "I hope, wherever they are, that they are well, and proud of you."

"...Thanks, Anew." Lyle absent-mindedly took her hand in his. "It has been… a while since anyone has said that to me."

Anew wanted to ask exactly how long it had been, but his grimacing face stayed her tongue. She yearned to relieve him of his evident grief, take on at least some of it in his stead, but nothing felt feasible in her own mind. The most she could do was rub his knuckles with her thumb, interlocking her fingers with his.

"I… would have loved to meet your family."

Lyle chuckled. "I think they would have welcomed you with open arms. Amy especially."

Anew just hummed as they stood before the gravestone, thinking of what to say to stave off the silence between them. "U-um…" She started softly and hesitantly, against perhaps her better judgement, "I… I'm not immortal anymore."

"Eh?" Lyle replied with confusion in his tone.

"You know how Innovades were meant to be nigh-indefinitely enduring assistants in Aeolia's Plan?"

"Yeah, I was there when Tieria gave his presentation two weeks ago." Lyle answered, although from his half-committed gaze Anew instantly knew that he had been slacking off during that meeting. As usual.

"The physical aspect of that is achieved by the genetic engineering of our bodies and maintained via an extensive infusion of nanomachines." Anew continued, glancing around to make sure nobody else was even remotely close to them. "I… I asked Tieria to turn down the nanomachines in my body, through Veda, so that I would have a more natural lifespan."

"You… don't want to live forever?"

"After what I've done, I don't think I deserve that. And I think that an eternity without you would just be meaningless."

"Anew…" Lyle took her hand in his, gently gripping it in reassurance.

"I just want to live a proper life with you. As a human." Anew admitted, her cheeks reddening and her eyes slightly watering. "I want to grow old with you, experience… what age feels like, so that even though I will end up in Veda once I go, I will have a lifetime of memories that I can cherish."

"Perhaps Veda will learn through those memories not to leave Innovades out alone for too long." Lyle mused, drawing the inference from Tieria's admission that Ribbons Almark was one of the first and longest-active Innovades.

"Perhaps." Anew giggled, finding the humour in Lyle's musing. "Tieria also promised to ensure that Veda does not 'recall' me, period." Before Lyle could fully express his confused shock on his face, Anew clarified, "I'm sticking by your side, no matter what."

Lyle gently hugged his lover, feeling rather honoured that Anew would go to such lengths for him and their relationship.

"You're… alright with this, right? I'm.. not going to be youthful or pretty forever." she asked with a hint of trepidation.

"Anew… Your beauty doesn't come just from your looks. Much more comes from here," Lyle placed his finger on her forehead, before uttering as he moved his finger down to her chest, "And here."

Anew had half a thought about quipping exactly which part of her body Lyle was pointing to, but given where they were and how honest and thoughtful he looked, she could not help but sink into Lyle's embrace instead. "Thank you, Lyle," she uttered, "thank you for accepting me, even after everything."

Lyle patted her on the back of her shoulder blades, thankful that it was a quiet day and nobody was around to make things awkward. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't? Or if I hadn't met you at all?" He wondered aloud, pondering for a few moments - before a vibration from something in Anew's jacket caused her to slip a hand in and fish out her communicator.

Sliding up the holographic screen just slightly and glancing at it, Anew calmly stated, "They're moving up the schedule. Pick-up is now tomorrow at the same stated time."

"Eh? They tell you that and not me?" Lyle broke off the embrace, checking his own communicator as the couple turned to walk to the entrance of the graveyard. "Man, I wanted to bring you around more of Dublin, see the pretty things we have here."

"Your communicator was on do not disturb, Lyle." Anew mentioned smugly, before leaning on his shoulder. "And I'm sure we'll have our chances in the future to have a look around. I trust you."

"Mmm," Lyle hummed, the indignation from missing the message from Ptolemy already faded, as he took her hand in his again.

"I trust you too, Anew. With my heart and soul."


Author's Post-Chapter(& Story) Notes: And that's a wrap...

For now!

While this story is now complete, I'm writing its sequel set during the movie. It will be a separate work, so look out for it if you want to know how things play out with Anew also in the fold. If you do not want to miss out on anything even for a moment, follow me!

Also, if you enjoyed Renewing Trust, do give favourites and reviews! They are greatly appreciated.

Author's Post-Chapter(& Story) Notes 2 (28/8/2022): Hi again! I have a one-shot published, set between the end of this story and the movie (the story for which I'm still writing), and it should be up by the time you see this update. If you don't see it, go to my profile.

Also, this story now has a TV Tropes page! Look for Fanfic/RenewingTrust (direct link is unavailable thanks ffn) to view it.

Cheers!