Title: "Furikazasunda Namida"

Author: LegolasLover2003 aka Ashley

Category: Anime - "Kidou Senshi Gundam 00"

Genre: Angst/General

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to "Kidou Senshi Gundam 00".

Author's Note: The story takes place during Season 2 and, be warned, could be considered AU.


振りかざすんだ涙

Furikazasunda Namida

{[( Brandished Tears )]}


A

Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 機動戦士ガンダム00

Season 2–

Fanfiction


Chapter I


"Tieria?"

Looking up, violet eyes locked with a worried green gaze.

"Is something wrong, Tieria?"

Feldt Grace sat down at the cafeteria table, watching the young man that sat beside her with concern. In truth, she had noticed the pilot acting rather preoccupied lately. He was more quiet… more secluded.

As if he was reverting to the man he had been four years ago.

"It's just…" she began, seeming a bit shy. "You're not yourself. I mean… you are but… I can tell something's bothering you."

Carefully, Tieria pushed his glasses further up onto his nose, though the young man's gaze remained on the potatoes in front of him.

"He hated potatoes, you know." Erde spoke softly, remembering a ghost from long ago. "Except when you made them, Feldt. He said you always added something to the potatoes that just made them delicious." Shrugging, Tieria looked to the young woman beside him. "It's funny… an Irishman hating potatoes."

Sighing, Feldt rested her elbows on the table. "Lyle hates them no matter HOW they're cooked it seems." She replied with a frown. "In fact, he had the nerve to dump them in the trash right in front of me. After I'd worked so long on them…" The woman sighed again, but her attention turned to Tieria once more, focused on his preoccupied gaze.

"He died today…" the Seravee pilot said, purple hair hiding his expression. "Ever since then… today… today's always been hard."

Feldt nodded, "I wrote him another letter last night." Instead of a frown however, the young woman was smiling shyly. "I told him about how Lyle is driving us up the wall."

"No kidding." Tieria rolled his eyes, before looking directly into Feldt's green gaze.

"Feldt… I… I saw him."

Oddly enough, the woman didn't think that odd. "Me too."

Now it was Tieria's turn to be confused.

"Feldt… how?"

"Not long after you woke up from the Fallen Angels operation." She replied softly. "I was in my room reading and… Lockon was just there."

For a long time, neither spoke. But when Tieria did voice his opinion, it wasn't the reply that the young woman had expected.

"I saw him too. Be… before you welcomed me home, Feldt. I saw him. I promised to change the world for him but…"

Feldt interrupted him however, "Then you saw him at almost the same time as I did."

"But that's not the point, Feldt." Purple eyes narrowed in concentration as Tieria forced the words out. "I saw his spirit, yes. But… but yesterday… Feldt… I saw him."

"Tieria…"

"Lockon Stratos… Neil Dylandy… is alive."


ONE DAY AGO…

Being warm wasn't exactly hard to do.

It was winter for the Northern Hemisphere… but in South Africa, the temperature was stifling.

Tieria had shed the pink cashmere sweater, tying it around his waist, because to be honest… shopping with a sweater on in the heat wasn't exactly his idea of a good time.

Of course he was on his way to pick up some supplies for the crew of the Ptolemaios, but he also had a somewhat personal list from many of the members.

Setsuna wanted some sort of lemon drink, while Allelujah had requested melon flavored soda. Apparently the Kyrios pilot had fallen in love with the soda which Setsuna had so kindly brought on board, when he was living in Japan. Feldt had asked for some new hair clips, Lasse wanted some body-building supplements, and Mileina had cornered him in the corridor and begged for some chocolate bars. For Ian, it was the newest science journal magazines and for Sumeragi… alcohol.

When Lyle asked Tieria for a favor however, the younger pilot nearly blushed at the request. The playboy was living up to his image… by asking for a pack of condoms.

Of course Tieria was planning on forgetting all about the request. Mainly because he didn't like to think about what (or in this case who) Lyle did in his off time.

Off time like Tieria technically had right now…

Sighing, the young man's gaze focused on a clothing store window. He was actually contemplating the sweater they had for sale… mainly because his own was getting a bit worn.

As Tieria reached for the door however, a voice from across the busy street somehow forced its way into his mind… and he couldn't move.

"Ah, gomen gomen. I wasn't watching where I was going."

Turning swiftly, Tieria watched as a man with slightly long brown hair, was apologizing to a couple of school girls whom he had apparently run into. He was carrying a guitar case on his back and wearing black gloves.

The brown paper bags in Tieria's arms slipped to the ground as he stared in shock at the man across the street.

It wasn't Lyle… he KNEW it wasn't Lyle Dylandy…

"L… Lockon…" Tieria whispered, before suddenly raising his voice. "LOCKON!"

The man across the street looked up and over to the Gundam Meister, before an oh so familiar smile graced his features. He waved, checking the traffic and quickly dashing across the street.

"Yo, Tieria."

Tears immediately filled Tieria's eyes as he struggled to keep from crying. "Neil Dylandy… is… is it…?"

"Me? Yeah."

Lockon was acting as if nothing had happened. It was like he had simply gone away for a couple of days.

Instead of dying four years ago.

Without thinking about it, Tieria wrapped his arms around Lockon's neck, hugging him tightly. "You're dead. You're dead. This isn't… It can't be…"

Strong arms wrapped around the younger man's body as Lockon Stratos returned the hug. "It's me, Tieria. I'm not dead… though… I guess I thought I was."

Pulling back, lithe fingers traced over the right side of Lockon's face as Tieria explored the area where a wound should have been.

But Lockon's right eye was fine, as if he had never been injured at all.

Tieria could feel the tears slipping, his cheeks damp as he forced himself to ask that all important question. "How?"

"To be honest, I don't really know." Lockon replied, carefully pulling Tieria after him and into the nearby alley so they could talk without interruption. "I woke up and this young man simply explained that one of the pilots under his command had recovered me and that I'd been undergoing extensive treatment for the last year. Another year and I was back to normal, so to speak."

The Serevee pilot shook his head, "But… but if you've been walking around Earth for the last two years… Lockon… why… why didn't you come back to us?"

"I thought you were dead." The Irishman replied, sighing as he un-shouldered the guitar case and set it on the pavement. Leaning against the brick wall behind him, Lockon continued. "I thought you had all died… until I saw the Gundams on the news." He smiled. "How is everyone?"

That was a question that had too many answers… too many ways to explain, to break the news.

Sighing, Tieria wrapped his arms around his chest, averting his eye from that familiar green gaze. "Christina and Lichty didn't make it. Neither did Doctor Moreno. After you… I mean… after we thought you were dead… everything went downhill from there. Setsuna and Allelujah disappeared, Sumeragi left Celestial Being, and it was just myself, Feldt, and Ian left."

"Tieria…"

The young man shook his head, "It wasn't your fault… we were weak." Sighing, Tieria looked up at Lockon. "I headed a project to make four new Gundams. We had to rescue Allelujah from an A-LAWS detention center. Before that though, Setsuna returned, and he brought Sumeragi and your brother with him."

Green eyes narrowed, "My brother?"

"Lyle Dylandy is the new Lockon Stratos."

Laughing slightly, Neil smirked. "Well, he does look like me so… I bet there was an interesting reaction to him."

"Yes well, he isn't anything like you. Apparently he even had the nerve to hit on Feldt."

Lockon shrugged, "Lyle has always been different."

Sighing, Tieria's violet eyes narrowed in anger. "I thought you would be angry that we pulled him into all of this. I thought you'd have some sort of reaction. I thought you wanted to change the world, Lockon! What the hell have you been doing?!"

When the man didn't respond, Tieria's gaze softened.

"I missed you… we all did but… I wanted to die, Lockon! I wanted to die and be by your side and… and now…" he couldn't stop the new wave of tears.

Confusion, anger, grief… they all merged into his feeling of joy and surprise.

Merged simply to create an ocean of emotions that Tieria simply couldn't control.

"Now, you… Lockon… why didn't you look for us? Why? Why did you leave me alone? I was the only Meister left! Why?!"

Lockon sighed, reaching out and putting his hands on Tieria's shoulders. "I couldn't come back, Tieria."

"Why?! We needed you, Lockon! I needed you! How was I supposed to change the world without… without you there?!"

Another sigh, and green eyes that held all the sadness of the world looked into the hurt and betrayed purple gaze of the younger pilot. "Promise me, Tieria… promise that what I'm about to tell you… promise you'll keep my secret?"


"But why?"

Tieria shook his head, "He had his reasons, Feldt. When I learned them… I knew why he couldn't come back." He looked to the woman at his side. "Neil Dylandy is a liability to us now."

"He has to come back." Feldt replied, now feeling the same myriad of emotions that Tieria had a day ago. "Why, Tieria? Why can't he come home?"

Sighing, the Serevee Gundam pilot told the very secret he had sworn to keep close to his heart.

"He's a sniper again, Feldt. A sniper… for the A-LAWS…"


つつく

Tsutsuku
{[( To be continued… )]}


Story Notes:

- Story title comes from the lyrics to the Tieria Erde image song, "Elephant".

- The part where Tieria and Feldt are talking about having seen Lockon, comes from the Mini-manga, "I'm Home".