Konnichiwa Minna-san! This is my first Gundam 00 fic. This story takes place two years after episode twenty-five of the first season. There are spoilers in this fic, you have been warned.

Summary:

Tieria struggles to deal with the disappearances of Setsuna and Allelujah and the death of Lockon. So he works himself to exhaustion and on a mission over The Former United States and Canada that exhaustion gets the better of him and he crashes.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gundam 00, but the plot, Shinead and Devon are mine.

Happy Reading

Chapter One: Too Much to Handle

"Tieria Erde, launching test Gundam 03,"

"Be careful Tieria," Sumeragi said, "You'll be searching the northern part of the former United states and southern part of the former Canada."

"Roger," Tieria said as he switched the communication line off

Sumeragi sighed, "He's so stubborn," She said, "This is his fourth search mission this week. He can't keep this up."

"He took the disappearance of Setsuna and Allelujah very hard," Feldt said, "And Lockon's death really affected him as well. He really didn't look well earlier."

"He hasn't looked well in a while," Sumeragi said "Since that whole…incident…he hasn't been right."

"I haven't really seen him around the dining hall lately," Lasse said, "I mean I see him there maybe once every day or two, unless he goes when no one else is there…"

"Not hungry, not hungry," The Orange Haro in Feldt's arms said

"He's been spending a lot of time with the Gundams," Ian said, "The other morning he was leaving the hangar as I was entering it at about five am. When I asked him if he had just gotten there and he told me he had been in there for a while. Then when I asked him if he had been in there all night he just responded: 'so what if I have.'"

"Can't sleep, can't sleep," Haro said

Feldt's and Sumeragi's eyes widened, "Oh shit," Sumeragi said as Feldt ran from the bridge, "Tieria…"

"Tieria, Tieria," Haro said as it floated around the Bridge, "Oh shit, oh shit."

Feldt sat on the ground outside the bridge, "Tieria," she whispered as she cried, "Why do you have to be so stupid?"

Flashback Feldt

'Tieria!"

Tieria turned around and was nearly knocked over by Feldt, "Feldt…"

"Don't leave," Feldt Cried, "Please don't leave."

"Feldt I have to," Tieria said

"No you don't" Feldt cried, "I saw the mission plan. Searching the former United States is dangerous. Please Tieria, stay here."

"I'm going to try to bring our bothers back," Tieria said

Feldt gasped and let go of Tieria then he walked away, "Tieria, please come back safely."

"Don't worry," Tieria said before entering the hangar, "I will."

Feldt stood up and reentered the bridge, "I can't believe you let him go!" Feldt yelled

"Feldt, do you honestly think I would have let him go if I knew that he hasn't been eating or sleeping well?" Sumeragi yelled back, "I swear to god when he gets back there will be hell to pay!"

"Hell to pay, hell to pay!" Haro chipped in

"Tell him to abort mission!" Feldt said

"He's too damn stubborn and too much of a pain in the ass to abort!" Sumeragi said

"The way Tieria is he would probably do something stupid if he found out we knew," Ian said, "He would accuse us of meddling in his business."

"Feldt I want you to open a communications line," Sumeragi said, "I was audio only on his end and full audio and video on ours."

"Roger," Feldt said, "Tieria, we're running a communications test, we'll be keeping the line open."

"Roger," Tieria responded

Sumeragi muted the communications line, "Dammit, I'm so stupid!" She cried, "Why didn't I notice before?"

"Tieria keeps to himself a lot," Feldt said, "And he probably didn't want us to know about his health. It's not just you, none of us noticed but today he really looked sick."

"He's entering Union Airspace," Ian said

Feldt reopened the communication, "You're entering Union Airspace," She said, "Be careful."

"Roger," Tieria said

"An unknown vessel just entered our airspace,"

"Shoot it down! It might be one of those damn Gundams!"

"Should we pursue it?"

"No just shoot it! If it is one of those Gundams we don't stand a chance!"

"Roger!"

Feldt watched a Tieria's head began to dip and she sighed, "Tieria," She called and his head snapped up, "Keep your eyes open. You're in enemy territory."

"Tieria," Sumeragi said, "We're picking something up on the radar, stay alert."

"Roger," Tieria responded

Feldt switched the line to mute, "His body is shutting down on him," She said, "He can't keep this up. He didn't want me to tell anyone but I can't stay quiet about it, the other day I found him unconscious in the observation room."

"He fainted in the hangar the other day," Ian said, "I found him facedown in front of the Dynames. I thought that maybe the memory of Lockon's death was too much for him. I didn't even think that the reason he had fainted was because he was sick."

"Now that you mention it," Lasse said, "The other day I was walking by his room and I heard something hit the ground. As I got closer I noticed that his door was open and when I looked inside, he was lying on the floor near his bed. I thought maybe he had fallen off his bed while taking a nap or something. It never occurred to me that Tieria is not one to sleep during the day."

"I saw him faint once," Feldt said, "I was going to talk to him and he…just collapsed. I tired to wake him but he wasn't responding to me. I stayed there until he woke up about two hours later."

"Dammit!" Sumeragi yelled, "He's in no condition to be out there!"

Feldt opened the communication line, "Tieria we're aborting mission," When there was no response she called again, "Tieria we're going to abort the mission! Tieria!"

Tieria heard the communications line close. He was exhausted and his vision was blurring but he ignored it, he was on a mission. There was a little blip on his radar that if he had been in full form, he would have either avoided it or shot at it. Then before he could react he was being shot at.

"Tieria…ab…mission…we're…to…mission…" The com line was cutting in and out, "Tieria!" Then it went dead.

He was then hit two more times, once from the side and once from behind. Not having the strength to hold himself against the seat he slid forward. He bashed his helmet on the consol, shattering his visor and sending a piece of broken glass into his eyelid, barely missing his right eye. Not wanting to crash on a Union military base he kept piloting, his consciousness weakening with each passing moment.

"Tieria!" Feldt cried as the words "communication lost" flashed across the screen.

"Try to patch another line through!" Sumeragi yelled

"I'm trying," Feldt said, "It's not working. The communications line must be jammed."

"I've got him on radar," Lasse said, "He's still piloting."

Feldt and Sumeragi sighed in both relief and worry, "But how long can he keep going?" Feldt asked

"The vessel didn't stop, should we follow it?"

"It was a Gundam but it didn't shoot back. Just let him go, I value my life."

Tieria slowly and carefully removed his helmet. He then put his hand over his right eye and felt the shard. He gripped the piece of glass then carefully removed it, and the little vision he had in that eye was clouded by blood and pain.

//No…// Tieria thought as the vision in his left eye began to dim, //I can't go down here…I'll get…captured…I can't…let that…happen…// Tieria's head dipped as he lost consciousness, //Neil…Dylandi…//

//Tieria…you're not going down…not on my watch…//

"Tieria's steadily losing altitude," Lasse said

"What?" Sumeragi gasped

"He's got one hundred twenty second until impact," Lasse said

"Is there anyway to stop it?' Sumeragi asked

"I'm trying to override the controls but it's not working," Lasse said

"At that speed…" Feldt muttered, "Tieria will…"

"No way," Sumeragi said as Feldt ran from the room, "Not another one…"

//Dammit kid, even when I'm dead, I'm still savin' your ass…There you should be alright now// The test Gundam that Tieria was piloting was slowed then gently leaned up against a very large boulder formation, //Take care of yourself, Tieria…//

"It's slowed down!" Lasse said, "He's on the ground."

Sumeragi sighed in relief, "Thank goodness…"

There was then a beeping and the words "radar signal lost" flashed across the screen.

"Lasse get it back up now!" Sumeragi yelled, "Dammit I am not going to lose another pilot!"

It was very cold when Tieria came back into consciousness. //What happened…// He thought, //Am I back on the Ptolemaios?// He opened his eye the cockpit he was in was dark, //Where am I?// He tried to start the test Gundam he was in but it didn't work, the only thing that happened was the cockpit opened. He slowly stood up and was grateful to findthat the only injury he had was the one over his eye. He then stepped out of the Gundam but because of his eye injury his depth perception was off and he fell. When he landed a sharp pain ripped through his left side as he landed on a rock. //I can't…stay here…I won't let them get me…// He slowly stood up and staggered away from the Gundam.

"Papa, Devon," A young child called, "I'm taking Perro and I'm going to check the traps."

"Be careful Shinead, we don't know what happened yesterday."

"I will papa," The child said before leaving, "Come on Perro!"

Tieria wandered around for a while before the pain and weakness got the better of him. He fell to the ground and more stabbing pains shot through his side and the gash over his eye began to bleed. //At least they won't get me alive//

Shinead heard footsteps then they stopped and the sound of something hitting the snow,

"What was that?" Shinead said as she tightened her grip on the hunting gun and the dog's leash, "Whose there? I'm armed!"

"Ta-tasukete…" A weak voice said

Shinead took a few more steps and stopped, "Un garçon," She said, "Comment allez-vous?"

"What was that?" A child's voice sounded, "Whose there? I'm armed!"

"Ta-tasukete…" Tieria muttered weakly. He did know English but the bitter cold and severe pain was making it hard to think. He figured he would trust this child. The Union wouldn't let children fight in the military, that was the Human Reform League's job.

There were a few more footsteps, "Un garçon," The child said, "Comment allez-vous?"

Tieria slowly lifted his head and a young girl and a dog slid in and out of focus.

"Stay here, Perro," The child said, 'I'm going to get Dev and papa."

Tieria heard the child run off as his head hit the snow again. The dog cautiously padded over to him, sniffed at him a bit, and then went over and rested on his right side in an attempt to keep him warm.

"Dev, papa," Shinead called as she got back to the house, "There's a boy in the woods…he's hurt!"

"Papa's in the middle of something," Devon said, "What do you need?"

"There's a boy…in the woods…" Shinead panted, "He's hurt…"

"Papa," Devon called, "I'm going to see what's up."

After a while Tieria could hear more footsteps and the dog perked up and barked. Tieria raised his head and a sharp pain ripped through his left side causing him to cry out in pain.

"Dev, il y a le garçon," The child said in French, "Je ne sais pas s'il va parler le français."

"D'accord," Another voice said.

Then just before Tieria lost consciousness, a person with red hair knelt down in front of him.

//My name is Devon, I'm going to help you//

Well what did you think? It's my first attempt so don't be too hard on me. If it seemed a bit repetitive towards the end it's because the point of view changes between Tieria and Shinead/Devon.

Translations:

Un garçon: A boy

Comment allez-vous? Are you alright?

Il y a le garçon; There's the boy

Je ne sais pas s'il va parler le français. I don't know if he speaks French

D'accord: Okay

Tasukete- Help

If the switching between French and English is too difficult to understand, just let me know and I'll just use English.

Ex-Shark7