In the Minerva's brig, Shinn sat quietly on his cell bunk, his thoughts drifting.
"What are you thinking about?"
Only a wall separated them. Rey sat calmly on his own bunk, flipping through a book.
"...I'm reflecting on my actions," Shinn sighed, leaning against the cold wall. The chill made him shiver slightly, clearing his mind. "Why exactly did I go this far for Stellar? Maybe it would have been better if I'd just run away back then? Working for a living is exhausting, but it's not like I couldn't save up money..."
Shinn rambled on, somehow recalling his time back on Industrial 7 when his colleagues called him the "Part-time King" for working multiple jobs a day.
Listening to Shinn, Rey sighed and closed his book.
"Ultimately, you're not the money-grubbing bastard you pretend to be, Shinn." Rey's voice was steady as he analyzed Shinn's past behavior. "Your inner emotions were just suppressed by financial pressure. Anyone who spends a little time with you can see that you're just a hot-headed guy with a fairly normal set of values."
"In short, you're not bad enough to put money above everything else, but your goodness is limited; you can't throw everything away for an ideal peace like Lady Lacus."
With that, Rey turned his head toward the corridor outside the cells. "What do you think, Luna?"
"Summary: You're a bit greedy and a great pilot, but you're still just a normal person."
Lunamaria's voice echoed down the prison hallway. She was draped in her military jacket, her right arm in a splint hanging from her neck, and several layers of bandages wrapped around her forehead.
When the medical team had pulled her out of her Zaku Warrior, the sight of her looking like a "hedgehog" covered in shrapnel had terrified everyone; they almost thought she was going to die. But after waking the ship's doctor—whom Shinn had knocked out—and performing an exam, they found that aside from some sprains and a mild concussion, she was mostly fine.
The fragments from the Zaku's cockpit hadn't even penetrated her pilot suit; she had lost consciousness primarily due to the shock of the Freedom's attack.
When Lunamaria woke up in the infirmary, she heard about Shinn's exploits from others. By then, Shinn and Rey had already entered the Minerva's brig for their "Reeducation."
Based on the current situation, Rey was constantly studying while Shinn was constantly questioning himself—two very different styles of prison meditation.
"Though, honestly, if we're talking about the 'optimal' choice, it would have been more in your interest to just return to Orb," Lunamaria said, approaching Shinn's cell. "Why didn't you just run?"
"...Because if I ran, PLANT would freeze my salary account," Shinn sighed, ending his single-threaded brain's self-flagellation to look at Lunamaria's strange expression. "I still have a ton of back pay and bonuses I haven't withdrawn. Besides, even though my record for today was slashed, my overall earnings still went up significantly."
"But man, losing that much military merit... I'm really taking a massive loss here..."
Listening to Shinn's incessant grumbling about money, Lunamaria really wanted to facepalm. However, feeling the gauze on her forehead and her immobilized right arm, she could only sigh.
"After all, regarding the matter of letting Stellar go—under normal circumstances, Chairman Zala likely would have sentenced Shinn to death."
At that moment, a familiar voice rang out in the corridor. "But since you lived, stop dwelling on those bonuses."
Durandal entered the brig, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the two in the cells.
"Chairman Durandal?!" Lunamaria was startled and turned toward him.
Durandal smiled, looking at the three young people in this somewhat "abstract" situation. One injured girl in a splint visiting two guys locked in a cage—by any conventional standard, it looked like these kids' lives were over.
However, in contrast to Lunamaria's surprise and Shinn's silence, Rey—hidden in the dimness of his cell—looked at Durandal with a complex gaze.
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Not long ago, in Talia's office.
Because the military tribunal had been hastily convened and judgment delivered after the medical team discovered the unconscious ship's doctor while taking Lunamaria for treatment, Talia had already returned to the bridge. She was currently commanding the Minerva to find a safe route back to PLANT.
As for the guards, Durandal had dismissed them from the room under the pretext of "wanting a private word with Rey."
As soon as the door closed, Rey, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"Why do you value Shinn so much?" Rey looked at Durandal, trying to discern something from his expression. "Thinking back—whether it was letting me help him send that girl Stellar away, your defense of him just now, or making him the pilot of the Impulse... I want to know the reason."
"I see, so that's the question..." Hearing Rey's doubt, Durandal did not evade it. Instead, he reflected for a moment before giving his answer.
"Do you believe in destiny, Rey?" Durandal took a sip from the coffee cup at his side. "I don't believe in it, yet it has appeared before me time and time again."
"Shinn possesses a powerful talent. Honestly, perhaps only Amuro, the pilot of the Unicorn, can surpass him."
"He seems greedy for money, but beneath that armor, he is merely a pure and confused youth."
As if recalling the time on the PLANT homeland when Shinn was contemplating the possibility of kidnapping Chairman Zala for a bounty, Durandal chuckled.
"I believe that he, like you, is a good candidate to inherit my thoughts and ideals. It's just that he is currently caught swinging back and forth between us and Orb."
Having seen Shinn's combat logs, one could see he was somewhat constrained when facing Orb's machines—likely because his sister was still there.
"As for that girl Stellar, she was going to die anyway. Rather than bringing a corpse back to PLANT, it was better to let Shinn send her away as he wished. That way, we can pull his wavering heart toward our side."
"Are you so certain he will follow your will and inherit your ideology and plans?" Rey frowned instinctively as he listened.
"At the very least, I will have tried. I have passed my pursuit of peace on to him," Durandal said calmly.
"Even if I fail and die for it, others will stand up and use their own methods to bring the world back to peace."
"As for whether my thoughts and plans were right or wrong... I'll leave that to be judged by the world that exists after peace is achieved."
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In a daze, Rey's thoughts returned to the reality of the prison cell.
"Perfect, Lunamaria is here too... so, I have some things to announce."
Durandal watched the three young people for a moment before speaking.
"Shinn, from now on, the Impulse will be handed over to Lunamaria to pilot."
Hearing Durandal's words, Shinn's eyes widened instinctively.
The bounties for destroying Earth Alliance forces made up a huge portion of Shinn's current income. Suddenly losing his Mobile Suit was, in a sense, cutting off his primary way of increasing his earnings. If he had to rely solely on his base salary...
Shinn began to calculate rapidly, his brow furrowed in worry.
"Eh? Me?!"
Stunned by Durandal's arrangement, Lunamaria froze for a moment and pointed at herself. "Then what about Shinn?"
"...As for Shinn, I have other arrangements for him once we return to the homeland."
Durandal nodded, then looked toward Rey in the adjacent cell. "Rey, that goes for you as well."
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