Konnichiwa Minna-san! I'm back with a new chapter! Despite school I'm getting these up pretty quickly. There's just one little flashback scene in this chapter and it's in italics. Aside from that, you can get started (reading the disclaimer is optional). :3
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam 00 or the characters, I'm just borrowing them for a while (with Veda's permission of course). But Destiny and Miracle are mine.
Happy Reading!
Chapter Seven: A Warm, Much Needed Welcome
Tieria's eyes widened in shock as Setsuna collapsed to the floor in front of him. "Setsuna!" Tieria cried as he knelt down ignoring the stabbing pains that shot through his stomach, "Setsuna!"
"It's been awhile," Setsuna said as he pulled himself off of the ground, "Tieria Erde."
"Setsuna…" Tieria muttered mustering up a smile despite the pain that began to overwhelm him, "F…Seiei…"
"Tieria!" Setsuna called as Tieria fell forwards, "Tieria Erde!" Setsuna looked over at Lyle and Allelujah who both had their guns drawn.
Allelujah looked mortified, "Tieria…I…I almost shot him…" He muttered as he dropped the gun that was in his hand, "What…what was I thinking…?"
"What the hell are you doing Setsuna!?" Lyle yelled, his gun still smoking "I could have just killed you!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Setsuna yelled as he cradled Tieria's head and shoulders, "I don't care what you may think! Tieria Erde is our comrade! He's a Meister like the rest of us, regardless of what he's done in the past five years!"
"But Setsuna," Lyle said, "You're being stupid! He attacked you!"
"I don't give a damn!" Setsuna snapped, "That was not Tieria Erde who attacked me. Tieria Erde would never do that! And you…are not…to hurt him…he's…not…"
"Setsuna!" Neil called as he prevented him from bashing his head on the hard metal floor as he lost consciousness. He then looked over at his brother and Allelujah, "Lyle, Allelujah help me here," He called. Allelujah walked over to Neil while Lyle just continued standing there with his gun drawn, "Lyle put your goddamn gun away, get that stupid look off of you face and get your ass over here and help!"
"Fine," Lyle said as he walked over to his brother and roughly shoved Tieria's head off of Setsuna's lap, "There, I helped."
Neil handed Setsuna off to Allelujah, stood up and punched Lyle in the face so hard he fell to the ground. "I am fed up with your attitude right now!" He yelled as he pulled Lyle to his feet by the collar of his uniform and slammed him against the wall, "Get the hell out of here! I don't want to see your face right now!" He released his brother then watched as Lyle walked towards the door, "Oh before you go, give me your gun," Lyle turned and threw his gun on the table, "You'll get it back when you prove that you can behave yourself." Lyle walked from the room and Neil sighed, "I don't know what to do with him."
"Neil," Allelujah said softly as he noticed a growing dark red stain on Tieria's shirt, "I think Tieria's stomach is bleeding."
"What!?" Neil, Destiny, and Sumeragi exclaimed as Feldt cried on Sumeragi's shoulder.
Neil walked over to the boy, walked over to the unconscious boy and gently lifted Tieria's shirt. "Dammit!" He swore. Sure enough the wound on Tieria's stomach had indeed reopened a bit. He carefully picked Tieria up off the ground.
"Neil," Allelujah said, "Should I bring Setsuna back to the medical room or to his room?"
"Bring him to his room," Neil said, "I think he's well enough. Tieria on the other hand…"
Linda was rather surprised when Neil walked in to the medical room carrying Tieria.
"Neil, what happened?" She asked.
"The kid pushed himself too hard and because of it, the wound reopened." Neil said as he set Tieria down on one of the beds, "I don' think it's bad but you never know."
Linda nodded and lifted Tieria's shirt, "You're right," She said, "But it's not that bad. I'm going to stitch it back up and then I'm going to have you bring him to his room."
"Neil how is he?" Sumeragi asked as she entered the room.
"He wound reopened a bit," Linda said, "I just have to re-stitch it a bit then I'm going to have Neil bring him to his room. There's nothing more we can do for him here, all he needs now is time and rest to finish recovering."
Sumeragi sighed, "Why did I have to let him do that?" She asked, "He would be fine if I had refused!"
"You know how the kid is," Neil said, "If he wants to do something, he's going to do it, regardless. If you didn't consent he probably would have gone off without one of us helping him."
"I know," Sumeragi said, "I'm just worried about him."
"I'm worried about what my brother is going to do to him," Neil said, "It was Lyle who nearly shot him."
"If he does anything to Tieria, I will personally take him off of Cherudim and I'll have Destiny take over for him," Sumeragi said.
"Do it," Neil said, "I know I'm taking the leaf out of Tieria's book but I don't think my brother is fit to be a Gundam Meister."
"I never thought I hear that again," Sumeragi said, "But I'll keep him on the Cherudim for now. If there's a problem then I'll act as I see fit."
"I'm all set," Linda said as she finished securing a bandage around Tieria's stomach, "You can bring him to his room now. Just tell him to be careful when he wakes, I'm sure the new stitches will be a bit tender and sore."
Neil nodded lifted Tieria off of the bed and turned to leave the room. When he got to Tieria's room he sighed. He tried to avoid this room because he knew that there was a good chance that he would find Sumeragi crying on the bed again. But things were different now, Tieria was back with them.
"Ms. Sumeragi," He said softly in case Tieria was only asleep, "Will you pull the covers back please?"
"Sure," She said as she walked a head of Neil.
"Thanks," Neil said as he gently set Tieria down on the bed then pulled the covers over him.
"I have to get going," Sumeragi said, "I have to go give your brother a stern lecture about what he did today."
"Alright," Neil said, "I'll be here if you need me."
A few minutes after Sumeragi left Allelujah walked in, "Neil, how is he?" he asked.
"I think he's just asleep now," Neil said, "He just pushed himself too hard."
"Is it true?" Allelujah said, "Was he really with the enemy?"
"Yeah," Neil said, "So was Destiny."
"I find that hard to believe," Allelujah said, "To think that Tieria would side with the A-Laws…what if…"
"Tieria wasn't with the A-Laws," Neil said, "He was with a smaller group of people who were affiliated with the A-Laws but not necessarily a part of them. He was held there and forced to fight against his will."
"That's awful," Allelujah said, "I can relate to what he went through, I guess. I was held in a high security prison for four years I know how it feels."
"It was worse with Tieria."
Neil and Allelujah turned to the door and saw Setsuna and Feldt standing there, "Setsuna, what do you mean?" Allelujah asked.
"Tieria was captured by a man named Ribbons Alamark," Setsuna said, "He was locked in a closet when he wasn't being forced to fight in a mobile suit that Ribbons could take control of if Tieria tried to refuse to fight. He was given food but was unable to eat due to the tranquilizers they had him on."
"Where did you hear this?" Neil said, "Did Destiny tell you?"
"No," Setsuna said, "Tieria told me."
"When?" Neil asked. The only time that Tieria and Setsuna had seen each other had been when they met in the meeting room and both of them had passed out before they could really have a chance to talk to each other.
"A while ago," Setsuna said, "I met him at Proud and we talked a bit until he was forced to fight by that bastard that took him."
"Setsuna F. Seiei…" Tieria Erde's voice came through the communications line, "Is that…you…?"
"Tieria Erde," He called, "Why…why are you in an enemy mobile suit?"
"I was captured right after Operation Fallen Angels by a man named Ribbons Alamark." Tieria said, "I don't know where I'm being held but Setsuna, I hate it there. I'm being held in a room no bigger than a storage closet, I can't eat anything and I just want to be back with Celestial Being or dead. Please Setsuna…shoot me down, kill me before he can…"
"Tieria what are you saying!?" He yelled, "You're my comrade! I can't shoot you down! Sumeragi Li Noriega is waiting for you to return, it will kill her if I was to kill you."
"Setsuna…please…I would rather be killed by a comrade than…"
Then the line went quiet for a bit and before he could respond, Tieria started screaming in pain, "Tieria! Tieria Erde what's wrong!? Tieria respond!"
"Get…outta here…Setsuna…" Tieria gasped, "I'm…going…to…kill…you…if you…don't…I…I can't…I…can't…I can't control…my body…anymore…"
"Tieria! TIERIA ERDE!"
"Oi Setsuna!" Neil called, "Setsuna!"
Setsuna snapped back to focus, "Sorry." He said.
"You've known that Tieria was alive since that incident at Proud?" Neil asked, "Why didn't you tell any of us?"
"I couldn't tell you that Tieria tried to kill me," Setsuna said, "Or that he asked me to kill him."
"What?!" Neil and Allelujah exclaimed.
"Tieria told me 'shoot me down, kill me before he can,'" Setsuna said, "How was I supposed to tell Sumeragi that I met Tieria on a battle field but he asked me to kill him?"
Allelujah and Neil fell silent. Neither of them knew what to say to Setsuna they would have never expected Tieria to say anything along those lines.
"Tieria's really changed a lot hasn't he?" Allelujah said finally breaking the thick silence in the room.
"You have no idea," Neil said, "I think it's safe to say that the Tieria we knew five years ago is gone. And it's both a good thing and a bad thing."
Several hours later Tieria started to come around to a light conversation amongst three people. He slowly opened his eyes and found Neil, Setsuna and Allelujah sitting near his bed. He went to sit up but gasped as a bolt of pain shot through his stomach.
"Tieria," Neil said as Tieria fell back against the pillows again clutching his stomach, "It might be a bit late to tell you but the wound on your stomach reopened and Linda had to re-stitch it so you might not to want to sit up for a while."
"Tieria," Allelujah said softly, "I'm…I…I want to apologize to you. I nearly shot you earlier, I don't know what I was thinking. But those things you said really bothered me."
"It wasn't me," Tieria said softly while looking away from his comrades. He knew that what he was about to say was going to sound like an excuse but he had to tell them anyway, "Ribbons Alamark had taken full control of my body. I had no control over what I said or did."
"What?" Allelujah exclaimed, "How is that possible?"
"I'm not human," Tieria said softly, "I'm an innovator…I was created by Veda and that's how Ribbons took control of me. He reopened my link to Veda and controlled me that way…I can understand if you're angry with me…I heard what had been said."
Allelujah was in shock. He had always known that Tieria was different but he wasn't expecting what the purple haired boy had told him, "You were created by Veda?" he asked.
"Destiny knows more about it," Tieria said, "A lot of information was kept from me. You would have to ask her."
"But hey the important thing is that the four original Meisters are back together," Neil said trying to lighten the mood, "Against the odds."
Setsuna and Allelujah both smiled lightly and nodded. "That's right," Allelujah said, "It doesn't matter what we've been doing, where we've been or what happened during the past four years."
Tieria smiled a bit but he was starting to get tired.
"Hey kid I…erk…we forgot to say something to you," Neil said, "Welcome home Tieria."
Tieria sighed and smiled, "Thanks," He said, "It's good to be back…ugh…"
"What's wrong?" Setsuna asked, "Are you in pain?"
"No" Tieria said softly, "I'm just really tired for some reason."
"We'll let you sleep then," Neil said, "We can continue our chat later, when you're feeling better."
Tieria nodded then shut his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Allelujah sighed, "I feel bad for him," he said, "He was always so delicate, why did he have to be the worst off of all of us for the past four years?"
Neil sighed, "Everything happens for a reason," he said, "I'm sure there was some reason why Tieria went through hell for four years. Even if that reason doesn't show itself for a while eventually we'll find out why Tieria went through what he went through."
Allelujah nodded then turned to leave the room, "Do you want me to bring you anything to eat?" he asked.
"Nah," Neil said, "I'm good."
"What about something for Tieria?" Allelujah asked.
"I think Tieria's on a special diet for now," Neil said, "Ms. Linda is in charge of his meals."
"Okay," Allelujah said as he walked from the room leaving only Setsuna and Neil.
"So you knew that he was alive," Neil said, "You were right in not telling Ms. Sumeragi about it him. She wouldn't have taken the news well. Now the question is will he be able to pilot again?"
"He will," Setsuna said, "Tieria may be delicate, but he's not weak. He'll pilot again, he'll do everything in his power to make sure he can pilot again."
"I'll hold you to that Setsuna," Neil said as the boy turned to leave the room.
"Call me when he wakes," Setsuna said, "I want to talk to him."
"Alrighty Setsuna," Neil said as the other Meister left the room as well. He sighed as the door closed, "He's right," he said softly as he placed his hand on Tieria's forehead, "You're not weak, you'll pull through. I know you will."
So no one was shot, that's a good thing Feldt was a bit traumatized but she'll be okay. Setsuna and Tieria both pushed themselves too hard and both passed out, does that surprise anyone here? And I just realized just how awful I am to Lyle…seriously I don't know why I portray him like that but I do…Oh well it adds to the story. So it looks like Allelujah and Setsuna both forgive Tieria but what about Lyle? What is he going to do and is Sumeragi going to take him off Cherudim? Until next time minna-san! :3
Ex-shark-V-005
