Konnichiwa Minna-san! It took me a little while to write this but it happens right? I mean I do try to update as quickly as possible with nine other active stories. I can be a bit of a challenge sometimes…but whatever. I don't have much to say about this chapter so after the disclaimer you can enjoy!

Disclaimer: I, Ex-Shark-Virtue-005, do not own Gundam 00 or the characters, Veda's just granting me permission to have fun with them for a while.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Ten: An Unexpected Turn

Ian sighed as he stood in the medical room. It had been about three days since Tieria had returned to consciousness but he had been so busy with the development of the new Gundams that this was the first time he had been to visit since. However unlike the last several times he had been here, Ian could tell that Tieria was just asleep and not comatose. Tieria leaning to his left side a bit and every so often he would shift or moan in his sleep.

"You better be able to pilot kid," Ian said softly, "We'll be in a tough spot if you can't."

"He'll be able to pilot again," Autum said as she entered the room with Linda, "Granted, he won't be able to do anything physically strenuous for about five months. But I think after that time, he'll definitely be clear to pilot."

"Tieria's on restricted physical activity for five months?" Ian asked.

"Yeah," Autum said, "His right lung hasn't healed completely yet and his oxygen levels are still lower than they should be."

"He's still having trouble breathing?" Ian asked.

"Yeah," Autum said, "It's gotten a bit better since he last woke up but it's still not right."

Ian nodded, "What about the head injury?" he asked softly, "Is there any lasting damage from that?"

Autum sighed, "We don't know yet," she said, "He was far too weak to check for that when he woke up. I guess is that we won't know about any lasting damage for a few weeks. The rest of the medical team is concerned that he may suffer from seizures. If that's the case here…he'll never pilot again. However if he just suffers from headaches for a while then there's a good chance that he'll be back in a Gundam in no time."

"What are the chances of Tieria becoming epileptic from this?" Ian asked gravely. They would not be in a favorable position if their only remaining pilot was forced to forfeit his Meister status. It was bad enough that at the moment they would have to possibly find replacements for three of their pilots. It would destroy them if they would have to replace all four Meisters.

"They're extremely minute," Autum said, "But we have to give you every possible outcome. Honestly, I don't think he'll suffer from seizures. We've been monitoring his brainwaves carefully and everything seems to be in order. If anything, he'll suffer from frequent headaches for a while."

"How much longer is he going to be asleep for?" Ian asked.

"I'm not sure," Autum said, "It's hard to estimate exactly when he'll wake up. We're guessing that it'll be a few more days at the most though."

"But he's out of the woods for the most part now right?" Ian said, "He's not in any danger anymore, right?"

"That's right," Autum said, "He's going to be fine. He just needs a while to recuperate."

"That's great," Ian said, "Let me know when he wakes up again."

"Autum," Sumeragi said as she glanced at Tieria a few days later, "How's he doing?"

"The same as yesterday," Autum said, "He hasn't changed much in the past week and he still sound asleep."

"That's okay right?" Sumeragi asked.

"It's fine," Autum said, "You need to remember that he was in a coma for three months due to almost life threatening injuries. His body is exhausted from repairing itself."

"How is his breathing?" Sumeragi asked.

"He's still having some trouble," Autum said, "And I think he's going to continue to have trouble breathing for a while. The medical team has already developed a medication for him to take if it becomes a problem. The standard asthma medication is on the list of medications he can't have. As of right now his breathing still isn't right but it's getting better."

"That's good," Sumeragi said as there was a soft moan.

"Tieria!" Feldt exclaimed softly, "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Feldt…" Tieria muttered.

"Good morning Tieria-san," Autum greeted, "Or rather good afternoon. Can you sit up for me? I need to run a quick check-up."

Tieria nodded as he slowly sat up. His body was heavy and his muscles were weak and stiff from not moving in so long. His head also felt strangely heavy and it was almost as if he was experiencing the after effects of a severe migraine.

"Prop him up," Autum said after Tieria managed to sit up a little bit, "He's weak. He's not going to be able to sit up for long periods of time just yet."

"Thank you," Tieria muttered as he rested against the pillows Sumeragi put behind him.

"Alright," Autum said, "First off, are you in pain anywhere?"

"My head hurts a bit," Tieria said. He was starting to wake up a bit more and it was getting a little easier to think, "But other than that I'm not really in pain. My body is just really stiff and rather weak."

"That's good," Autum said, "I didn't think you would be in much pain. But I'm worried about your breathing. Could you remove your shirt for me?"

Tieria nodded and started to fumble with the buttons on the shirt he was wearing. For whatever reason his fingers weren't responding to him the way he wanted them to and he couldn't undo the buttons.

"As I thought," Autum said as she helped Tieria unbutton his shirt, "Your fine motor skills were affected. With a little bit of physical therapy we should be able to reverse that." She placed a stethoscope to Tieria's chest, "Could you take a deep breath for me?" Tieria did what he was told, "Hmm, yeah you're not reaching the top of your breath at all. Are you short of breath?"

"A little bit," Tieria said as he caught a glance of the scar on the right side of his chest, "Just…what happened to me…?"

Autum sighed. "For one, you nearly died," she said. There was no longer any reason to hide the truth from Feldt or Sumeragi, now that Tieria was awake, "You broke every rib on your right side, your right shoulder blade, collar bone and your right arm in two places. You suffered a major concussion and extensive internal injuries. Then during a surgery to remove the bone fragments from your right lung, we had to resuscitate you twice. We had to keep you on a respirator for three weeks because you couldn't breathe much on your own."

"You never told me that he had to be brought back to life twice during the surgery!" Sumeragi exclaimed, "Or that he couldn't breathe on his own."

"There was no way I was going to tell you that," Autum said, "You had enough to worry about at that time. I wasn't going to add to it." She turned to Tieria, "Do you now understand why you still need another four to five months to recover?"

Tieria sighed and closed his eyes, "Will I be able to pilot?" He asked.

"We're not sure yet," Autum said, "We'll know in the next few weeks. But as of now, you are not clear to pilot."

Tieria sighed again and turned to Sumeragi, "What is our situation?" he asked.

"Ptolemy was destroyed," Sumeragi said, "Christina, Lichty, and Doctor Moreno were killed. We have four of the five GN-Drives…Exia's is missing. Nadleeh's GN-Drive was damaged but it was repairable. Don't worry, the four GN-Drives we have work."

Tieria nodded as Autum continued her check up, "Tieria-san," she said, "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

"When will I be able to leave the medical room?" He asked.

"Not for a while," Autum said, "You're still on observation. We can't discharge you yet. This is only the second time you've been conscious in three months. I know you hate it here but if some sort of complication comes up we'll be able to act quicker if you're here."

"I hate it here," He muttered.

Autum sighed, "I know you hate it here," she said, "But you need to stay. If we discharge you and you have a seizure or you start having trouble breathing, we may not be able to get to you in time."

Tieria's eyes widened at the word seizure, "What do you mean by seizure?" He asked. He knew that if he was possibly epileptic he would he stripped of his Meister status.

"It's just a minute possibility," Autum said, "You suffered a severe head injury. But I honestly don't think we'll have to worry about that."

"When will I be able to eat?" He asked. He knew that he hadn't eaten anything since before the battle that nearly killed him and he was rather hungry.

Autum sighed, "Probably tomorrow," She said, "We still have you on an IV drip today. Why? Are you hungry?"

"Yeah," Tieria responded.

"Hold on," Autum said, "I'll go and see what the head medic wants to do."

Tieria nodded and turned to Sumeragi, "Are we rebuilding the Gundams?" he asked.

"HA!" Ian shouted as he entered the room, "You owe me money now Sumeragi! I told you he would ask that question!"

"When did we bet on it?" Sumeragi asked, "I don't recall betting with you!"

"We shook on it the other day remember?" Ian asked, "Or were you too drunk to remember? Feldt and Mileina were there!"

"Did we shake on it?" Sumeragi asked Feldt as Tieria just sat there and tried to figure out just what was going on.

"Yes," Feldt said, "Both of you were drunk. Mileina and I were asked to be the witnesses."

"Dammit," Sumeragi swore, "How much was the bet for?"

"Ten thousand yen or one hundred American dollars," Ian said proudly, "Pay up!"

"Ten thousand yen!" Sumeragi exclaimed.

"Yup!" Ian said, "Now pay up!"

Tieria sighed, "Some things will never change," he said, "Perhaps you should refrain from getting into arguments when you've had too much to drink Sumeragi Li Noriega."

"I guess you're right," Sumeragi said.

"How are you doing kid?" Ian asked, "It's good to finally see you awake. And to answer your question, yes we are rebuilding the Gundams. Once we get the blueprints done on your Gundams we'll start building."

"I thought the blueprints for Virtue and Nadleeh's successors were already complete," Tieria said.

Ian sighed, "I didn't like what happened to you during that last battle," He said, "Virtue and Nadleeh had too many flaws and weak points. So we scrapped the completed blueprints and we're going to start from scratch. Although we have a design in mind that might just work. I know you helped design the plans we scrapped so, you'll have a say in what your next mobile suit will look like. I'm guessing you still want a heavily armed type?"

"What about the others?" Tieria asked as he nodded.

"We're sticking to the plans we have," Ian said, "We're going to prioritize your Gundam and the Twin-drive system before we start the other two."

Tieria nodded as Autum entered the room followed by Krung Thep's head medic, "Ah Tieria Erde," The woman said as she leafed through Tieria's charts, "It's good to see you awake. Things have been very touch and go with you in the past few months but it looks like you're almost in the clear."

"I want to know if I'll suffer any ill effects of the injuries I sustained," Tieria said, "Autum mentioned something about seizures. I want to know what that's all about."

The woman nodded and brought up the data from the medical scanner they had him hooked up to, "You suffered from a head injury three months ago," The woman said, "However it wasn't as severe as we originally thought it was. The injury healed much better than we thought it would. As you know, we have to give you every possible side effect even if there's almost no chance of it happening." Tieria nodded, "If you do suffer from any ill effects it will be with your breathing. It's very possible that you will suffer from asthma-like attacks for a while."

"Is that why I'm still on observation?" Tieria asked.

"Yes," The woman responded, "When your ribs were broken a few of them punctured your right lung. And while it's been three months, your lung hasn't fully healed yet. Your right lung had almost completely shut down and you couldn't breathe very well on your own for nearly a month."

"I really broke every rib on my right side?" Tieria asked.

"Yes," The woman said, "And at least three of them shattered. We had to regenerate the entire right side of your rib cage. You got seriously lucky though, you wouldn't have fared well if it had been your left side. It was a miracle that the two previously broken ribs you had didn't break more."

Tieria sighed and closed his eyes, "When will I be allowed to leave?" He asked.

"We're not sure yet," The woman said, "In a few days we'll start the rehabilitation and physical therapy. And we'll probably go from there. Autum mentioned that you were hungry. Do you want a little something to eat?"

"Yes please," Tieria said.

"Okay," The woman said, "I'll go get you some bread."

"So…" Tieria said distantly, "I'm the only one left…"

Sumeragi sighed. She had no idea what she could say to Tieria to comfort him, "We'll find them Tieria," Sumeragi said as she placed her hand on the boy's shoulder, "But right now, there's nothing we can do. The Gundams were destroyed and you're not in any condition to even be out of bed yet. But I promise you, we will find Setsuna and Allelujah."

"I…never thought…I would regret…not having everyone around…" Tieria muttered as he tried to hold back the tears, "I really…lost everything…"

Sumeragi sighed as she watched the tears roll down the boy's pale face. She gently embraced the boy, "It's going to be okay Tieria," She said, "We may have to get new pilots if it comes to that. Just give it some time."

"NO!" Tieria yelled as he shoved Sumeragi away from him, "I DON'T WANT NEW COMRADES!"

"Tieria," Sumeragi said, "We may need to find new pilots. If we can't find Allelujah and Setsuna you're going to have to get used to new comrades."

"NO!" Tieria screamed, "WE ARE NOT GOING TO GET NEW PILOTS!"

"Then what do you expect us to do then?" Sumeragi exclaimed back, "Lockon was killed, Allelujah was captured and Setsuna disappeared. What is your plan?"

"We find them," Tieria said softly, "We'll rescue Allelujah then find Setsuna."

"And do you expect to do that with no usable Gundams?" Sumeragi asked, "Tieria, you're being unreasonable! You're going to have to accept the fact that Allelujah and Setsuna might not come back."

"I refuse to believe that!" Tieria yelled, "I'll get them back! I'll do whatever it takes to find them! I'll-" Tieria was then cut off by an almost paralyzing pain in his chest.

"Tieria," Sumeragi said. It was unlike Tieria to stop suddenly in the middle of a rant and the look on his face worried her, "What's wrong?"

"I…don't know…" Tieria muttered as he clutched his chest and started to gasp for breath.

"Tieria!" Sumeragi cried. Something was clearly wrong with the boy.

"…I…can't…breathe…" Tieria panted, "Sumeragi…help me…" It felt almost as if someone was pressing a pillow to his face and the pain was making it impossible to reach the top of his breath. He wasn't sure what was happening to him and for the first time in his life he was truly terrified. "Please…help..."

"Autum!" Sumeragi cried as Tieria struggled to remain conscious, "Hang in there Tieria. AUTUM!"

"What's wrong?" Autum called as she entered the room, "Oh my god!" She exclaimed as she saw the state that Tieria was in, "I need a ventilator and a nebulizer in here now!" She called to the medical team, "He's in trouble!"

Within seconds the entire medical team was in the room tending to Tieria. They put an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and within minutes his breathing eased however the panic was still present on his face.

"Stand back," Autum said, "I'm going to activate the capsule so I can check his lungs." She nodded as she looked at the data. She then deactivated the capsule.

"How does it look?" The head medic asked.

"Not bad," Autum said, "There are no signs of bleeding and it looks as though the muscles are starting to relax. He's starting to calm down as well."

"That's good," The older woman said, "Keep him on the respirator for today. We'll see how he's doing tomorrow. We're not sure if there will be any side effects of the medication so monitor him closely today."

"What's going on?" Sumeragi asked, "Is he alright?"

"He's going to be fine," Autum said as she removed the oxygen mask and hooked Tieria up to a smaller respirator, "He just worked himself up too much. He's going to continue to have these asthma-like attacks for a while. But it looks like medicine is working well. His breathing is back to normal."

"Thank god," Sumeragi said, "Do you know what triggered the attack?"

"Well," Autum said, "We could hear him yelling at you from the office. I'm guessing that that has something to do with it." She turned to Tieria, "You need to stay on the respirator for the rest of the day alright. Try to get some sleep, you'll feel better." When Tieria shut his eyes she led Feldt, Ian and Sumeragi from the room, "I'm going to ask that you refrain from discussing the Gundams with him now." She said, "And please, don't mention the other Meisters, he's not ready for that yet."

Sumeragi nodded, "But what happens if he asks us about it?" She asked.

"Try to avoid the subject as much as you can," Autum said, "I know that's going to be difficult with him but do your best."

"I'm guessing working over the blueprints of the kid's new Gundam are going to have to wait as well," Ian asked.

"I'm going to have to say yes to that as well," Autum said, "Give him a few more weeks."

Ian nodded, "Now the question is how are we supposed to keep Tieria's mind off of the Gundams for a few weeks?" he asked.

"What about his books?" Feldt asked, "He likes to read."

"That's an idea," Autum said, "I'm sure he's going to spend a lot of time sleeping as well. We're going to start him on physical therapy the day after tomorrow. We're not quite sure how much he's going to need but we'll figure it out along the way."

Sumeragi nodded, "We should let him rest for the rest of the day," She said.

"That sounds good," Autum said, "I'll call you if anything else comes up."

"Thank you."

Tieria was confused when he found himself floating in the middle of space. He looked around and tried to figure out just what he was doing until he noticed something. He was at Lagrange One, the place he nearly lost his life. He shut his eyes and tried to will himself awake but he was just too exhausted to do so. He floated around a little bit and came across a sight that disturbed him. Floating in front of him was Setsuna's horribly mangled body. The visor on the boy's blue helmet had shattered, his brown eyes empty and glossy…Setsuna was dead.

Then not too far away he caught sight of a figure in orange. However the figure was missing the lower half of its body. Tieria floated up to it and found that the figure was Allelujah.

"What…what is this…" What he had come across sickened him a bit.

"This would be your doing Tieria." A haunting familiar voice called out to him, "You went rogue and killed them."

"I did WHAT?" Tieria asked not wanting to believe any of it, "There…there must be some sort of mistake…"

"We were just about to defeat the federation when you snapped and killed us all," The voice said, "We never saw it coming. I can show you how you did it in case you forgot."

"No…no…" Tieria gasped, "How is that possible? I…I wouldn't possibly do something like that…"

"Well you did so I don't know what to tell you. I guess I had it lucky," the voice said, "I died before you went rogue. You blamed Setsuna for my death then after you killed him Allelujah tried to stop you as well and he suffered the same fate. If I had been there I would have stopped you…but I guess you did play a part in my death. Seeing that it was because of you that I was initially injured."

"L-Lockon!" Tieria gasped as the man appeared in front of him.

"And now," Lockon said as he drew a gun, "I'm here to avenge all of us. Die Tieria Erde!"

Lockon pulled the trigger and everything went black.

Tieria's garnet eyes snapped open and he bolted upright in bed.

"Tieria what's wrong? Tieria what's wrong?" Haro chanted.

"Tieria!" Autum called as she knelt beside the bed, "What's wrong? Are you having trouble breathing again? Do you feel sick? Are you in pain? Tell me what's wrong." Tieria was extremely pale and his face was slick with sweat.

"Did I…really kill them…?" Tieria asked vacantly.

"What do you mean?" Autum said as she eased Tieria against the pillows, "Who did you kill?"

"Lockon told me…that I killed…Allelujah and Setsuna…" Tieria whispered, "Is…it true…?"

Autum sighed as she placed her hand on Tieria's forehead, "It's not true," Autum said as she brushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes, "It was just a dream. Go back to sleep, the medicine gave you a bit of a fever."

Autum sighed as Tieria drifted back into the restless sleep that had been disturbed by the nightmare. She had been told that after Tieria lost his direct link to Veda he started suffering from vivid and sometimes violent nightmares. And she had a bad feeling that the nightmares were going to worsen and continue now that he had lost his comrades as well.

As usual from me, Tieria's recovery is not going to be an easy one. Poor kid…I really put him through hell and back don't I? The part where he started screaming at Sumeragi might have been a bit out of character but whatever. I need to do that every so often right? So how are the nightmares going to play into Tieria's recovery…? I'm not sure yet, I still need to work that bit out so uh…just hang tight for a while until the next chapter okay? Until next time Minna-san! Ja Ne!

Ex-Shark-V-005