Konnichiwa minna-san! I know this is over a week late but there were a lot of things that happened that I didn't put into account, but you know what they say, good things come to those who wait and haste makes waste. So anyway this is the last chaper of this fic, but I have plenty of others. So enjoy this last installment and thanks for putting up with my late-night crack Minna-san!
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam 00 or the characters or the Gundams. I only own the own the almost non-existent plot. But Veda said that I could borrow them as long as I don't steal a Gundam or kidnap Tieria.
Happy Reading and Happy Holidays!
Chapter Ten: New Year's Fiascos
It had been a quite and strange few days. Tieria would only come out of his room to eat and consult with Veda. Tieria was still rather irritated that his comrades had managed to get him drunk. He was beginning to think that the threat that Sumeragi and Hallelujah set up was not going to happen until one morning.
He had woken up a bit later than usual. The cold that he had come down with had been getting worse however he had heard that when a cold got worse it was getting better.
"What the hell is this?" he asked as he walked into the dining room and found that the regular table had been replaced with a Japanese style table with a thick quilt-like blanket.
"It's a Japanese New Year's day tradition," Sumeragi said, "It's very comfortable, try it."
"When is New Year's?" Tieria asked.
"Tomorrow," Sumeragi said, "So the itinerary for tonight is stay up all night and then watch the sunrise from space."
"We're staying up all night?" Tieria asked.
"Yup," Hallelujah said, "and the first one to fall asleep get pranked."
Tieria sighed, "Try it and I swear, I will take you off Kyrios," he said, "You said no tricks."
"I said no such thing," Hallelujah said.
"I don't care," Tieria said, "I have already been though enough. You try anything that I find to be even the slightest bit irritating, there will be consequences."
"Ugh," Hallelujah said, "You're such a killjoy, but seeing as though you put up with our crazy little antics for Christmas, I'll go easy on you."
"So what do we do all night?" Tieria asked as he grabbed his breakfast.
"Play games of course," Lockon said as he entered the room, "Cards, Yahtzee, strip poker, you know the normal games."
"We will not play strip poker," Tieria snapped, "There are young girls on the ship!"
"Oh come on, Tieria," Lockon said, "It's not like we would take all of our clothes off."
"It's still not going to happen, Lockon Stratos," Tieria said.
"But why?" Lockon complained.
"I think a certain someone is uncomfortable with his body," Hallelujah said, "Perhaps there's some sort of secret behind his or her physical form."
"I don't know what the hell you're on about," Tieria snapped, "But I can assure you that there is no secret behind my physical form. The reason why we will NOT be playing strip poker is because it might have a bad influence on a certain ten year old."
"Oh don't worry about it," Mileina said as she made her presence known, "The guys at Krung Thep play strip poker all the time. They go all the way, and trust me you're all in better physical shape then they were."
Tieria, Lockon and Hallelujah all looked mortified. And for Hallelujah to be mortified, you know it had to be bad.
Hallelujah looked towards Ian, "You must be the worst parent I have ever met," He said, "Seriously you don't let your kid watch a game of strip poker when they're ten, at least wait until they're eighteen."
"You're unfit to be a parent," Tieria said.
"I have to agree with both of them," Lockon said, "That's just wrong."
"So you boys can play strip poker if you want," Mileina said, "I wouldn't mind."
"NO!" Tieria, Lockon and Hallelujah yelled in unison.
"What's strip poker?" Setsuna asked as he walked in the room.
"Not going there," Tieria said as he fiddled with his glasses a bit.
"Oh Tieria," Hallelujah said, "How the hell do you know what strip poker is anyway?"
Tieria sighed, "For the same reason that Mileina knows what strip poker is," he said, "Well if you need me, I'll be in my room."
"We start our little party at eighteen hundred hours," Sumeragi said, "I except you to be here in the outfit we left in your room."
Tieria sighed. He was expecting some kind of embarrassing outfit like the one he had been forced to wear on Christmas and he was pleasantly surprised to find an elaborate purple kimono. He figured that if he would be staying up all night he should probably get some sleep before hand.
If there was one thing Tieria couldn't understand it was the need for people to take pictures of everything. He hated having his picture taken and in just five minutes he had had his picture take about twenty times.
"Alright, enough pictures!" Tieria yelled as Mileina took his picture for the umpteenth time.
"But, but, but, but…why?" Mileina whimpered as if she was going to cry.
"I've lost count of how many times you've taken my picture tonight," Tieria said, "Can't you just be satisfied with one or two?"
"But I want to record everything that happens tonight," Mileina said.
"Go easy on her Tieria," Lockon said, "Just remember the rest of us have to rely on cameras to look back on events that have happened, we don't have direct access to Veda like you do. Let her take as many pictures as she wants tonight."
"Please," Mileina asked giving Tieria the best puppy dog eyes she could, "Pretty please Tieria oniichan?"
Tieria sighed. There was no winning this fight, "Fine, I guess," He said. The last thing he wanted was for Ian to go after him for making Mileina cry. He had already had enough run ins with the technician in the past several days to last him a life time.
"YAY!" She cried happily as she abandoned her camera and threw her arms around Tieria's neck, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Tieria oniichan!"
"You're welcome," Tieria said, "Now will you please let go of me?"
"Sure thing," Mileina said as she grabbed her camera and took another picture of Tieria, "Man, would it kill you to smile?" She asked, "In all the pictures I have of you, you're not smiling in any of them."
"We've come to believe that Tieria does not possess the ability to smile," Hallelujah said, "So yeah, it probably would kill him to smile."
"I can smile," Tieria snapped.
"Well prove it," Hallelujah said, "If you have the ability to smile then smile."
Tieria sighed until Ian stumbled in the geta sandals and landed face first in the punch bowl. Normally he would have just rolled his eyes but he found himself laughing along with the rest of the crew members. But then a bright flash went off in his face.
"Ha ha, gotcha!" Mileina cried, "I have successful acquired one picture of Tieria oniichan laughing."
"Congats kid," Hallelujah said, "When you get it printed, give me a copy."
"Okay," Mileina said, "You've got a nice laugh, you should try it more."
"Alright who wants to play Yahtzee?" Lockon called as he held the box up.
"How about Monopoly?" Ian asked.
"Isn't that that game that lasts a friggin day?" Hallelujah asked.
"No," Ian said defensively.
"Yes it is," Tieria said, "Trust me."
"How about a card game?" Feldt suggested.
"Oh no," Hallelujah said, "No card games."
"And why not?" Tieria asked.
"Because Erde over here like to cheat at card games," Hallelujah said.
"I do not!" Tieria snapped.
"Sure," Hallelujah said sarcastically, "Remember that time we played Bullshit? I know for a fact that you were linking with your little super computer there."
Tieria sighed. He did remember that game, "I was not!"
"Hmm, yeah okay," Hallelujah said, "Then how come when ever one of us was lying, your eyes would turn this crazy psychedelic yellowish color? Can you explain that one?" Tieria didn't respond, "So it is true. Our little straight and narrow over here cheats at cards!"
"I was not!" Tieria yelled, "I was merely consulting with Veda about what I should do."
"You just threw yourself under the bus," Lockon said, "You do realize that right? Alright let's just play Yahtzee!" He yelled distracting Hallelujah, "It's a game of chance so Tieria can't use Veda to cheat."
"I don't cheat!" Tieria yelled.
"Um, yeah you do," Hallelujah said, "You admitted it."
"Come on you two!" Lockon called, "Let's play the game!"
After the fifth or sixth game, Tieria started getting tired.
"What the matter Tieria?" Lockon asked as Tieria put his head down on the table, "It's only twenty-three hundred thirty, you can't be tired already."
"It's a hour after I usually go to bed," Tieria said, "I'm getting tired."
"Aw, our little party pooper is pooping out on us," Hallelujah said, "How surprising."
"Give him a break," Lockon said as he pat Tieria on the back, "It's past his bedtime."
"Are you drunk?" Tieria asked.
"No," Lockon said, "Well…maybe a little bit…but the really heavy drinking won't happen until after midnight."
Tieria sighed. He had had enough of the whole alcohol thing, "Alright," He said, "New rule, after today there will be no alcohol allowed on this ship."
"Aw come on!" Lockon complained loudly, "That's not fair!"
"I have to agree," Sumeragi said, "And I can't let you do that."
"But alcohol impairs brain function!" Tieria complained, "We need to be-"
"Oh shut up!" Hallelujah said as he shoved a piece of cake into Tieria's mouth. He then clamped his hand over the smaller Meister's mouth, "There, now you have to eat it. I won't move my hand until you've swallowed that cake."
Tieria struggled with the piece of cake that had been forced into his mouth. He didn't normally eat that sort of thing but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He tried to get the confection down as quickly as possible, he couldn't really breathe through his nose. He struggled to get the sickeningly sweet pastry down and when he did, he felt nauseous and wondered it his stomach was going to reject what he had just been forced to eat.
"There," Hallelujah asked as he released his hold on Tieria's mouth, "Was that so bad?"
Tieria didn't respond. He was trying to keep himself from rejecting what he had just eaten.
"Oi, what's wrong?" Lockon asked as Tieria just stood there.
"Aw, does the baby have a tummy ache?" Hallelujah asked in a mock baby tone, "If you ate that stuff more often then it wouldn't make you sick, baby."
"I am not a baby," Tieria muttered.
"What was that, baby?"
"I SAID I AM NOT A BABY!" Tieria yelled as he launched himself at Hallelujah. He caught the larger Meister completely off guard and knocked him off his feet. "HOW DARE YOU DIRECT SUCH AN ASININE COMMENT AT ME!"
"Finally…" Hallelujah whispered with a tear in his eye, "Now if only Allelujah would do the same…"
Allelujah 'came to' in a very odd situation. He was on the floor with an extremely livid Tieria on top of him. "Tieria…?" He asked, "What are you…?"
Lockon walked up and grabbed Tieria by the back of his Kimono and easily lifted him off of Allelujah, "That's enough out of you," he said, "Go over there and sit quietly while I explain your actions to Allelujah." Lockon looked at Allelujah, "Hallelujah force fed Tieria a piece of cake and Tieria was getting even."
"I see," Allelujah said.
"Someone's a little tired," Lockon whispered to Allelujah.
"I am NOT tired!" Tieria yelled.
"You just admitted to being tired not even ten minutes ago," Lockon said, "Come on there are less than ten minutes until midnight. Once we ring in the New Year you'll be able to sleep a bit before we watch the sunrise."
"Ah Lockon-niichan," Mileina complained, "What fun will it be if there's one of us missing from the real party."
"Trust me," Lockon said, "It will be more fun if Tieria sits this one out. He's not someone you want to be around when he's tired like this. It will be better if we let him sleep for a while because we really don't want him to kill anyone."
"I see," Mileina said. She looked at Tieria who was starting to doze off again she readied her camera and caught Tieria off guard with the flash, "Aw, you're cute when you're half asleep."
"Please stop taking my picture," Tieria moaned as he rubbed his eyes.
"There's two minutes until midnight," Sumeragi said as she slid a glass over at Tieria, "That should hold you over until daybreak."
"I don't want it," Tieria snapped, "It's got alcohol in it. I am going to stay awake until midnight then I am going to bed."
"Alright, alright," Sumeragi said, "You don't have to bite my head off. You're such a killjoy!"
"Call me what you want…"
"Oi shut it!" Lockon said, "Or you'll make us miss the countdown!"
"Countdown?" Tieria asked, "Countdown to what?"
"It's the final countdown," Lockon said, "To twenty-three-oh-eight! We've got thirty seconds! Come on, it's a tradition!"
"You and your traditions!" Tieria snapped, "I'm fed up with all of them!"
"Ten…nine…eight…seven…" Lockon counted with the rest of the crew members, "Come on Tieria count with us!"
"Fine," Tieria sighed, "Three…two…one…happy New Year…" He said listlessly as the others screamed and cheered, "Well, it's been a blast but I'm going to bed."
"Aw come on," Ian said as he popped the cork off of a bottle of Champaign, "Have some, have some!"
"You're drunk aren't you?" Tieria asked.
"Yeah probably," Ian said, "I've had quite a bit to drink already."
"Alright that's it!" Tieria said as he took Ian by the wrist, "Come with me!"
"Where are you taking me!?" Ian cried.
"Isolation!" Tieria snapped, "I am NOT letting you near your daughter or any of the other crew members in your inebriated state. Not after what you tried to do the last time!"
He then left the room leaving Mileina beaming with happiness and the rest of the crew confused. "He cares about me…" Mileina gasped, "He really does love me back!"
"Does anyone know what the hell just happened here?" Lockon asked.
"No idea…" Sumeragi responded, "But whatever, now that Tieria's gone, we can do what we want."
About four hours later Lockon walked into Tieria's room. He had drawn the shorter straw so he was in charge of waking Tieria.
"Hey Tieria," He called as he shook Tieria's shoulder, "Tieria, wake up."
Tieria stirred, "What do you want?" He moaned, "It's not morning yet…"
"Ms. Sumeragi wants you to put your flight suit on," Lockon said as Tieria sat up a bit.
"Why?" Tieria whispered.
"We're going to watch the first sunrise," Lockon said softly, "You'll be able to go right back to bed when it's over."
Tieria nodded and stood up and went to get his flight suit, "Why are we doing this again?"
"That T-word you seem to despise so much." Lockon said, "I'll meet you out in the hall."
Tieria nodded as Lockon left the room. He was exhausted but he knew that someone would drag him by the hair if he didn't come willingly and he already had a headache, he didn't need to make it worse.
Tieria didn't see the point of floating out in space just to watch the sunrise. They had seen it countless times before so why did they have to go to such extremes. Oh but it's the first one of the year, they all complained out voting him about ten to one. And it didn't help that he just didn't have the energy to argue with them so he was going to humor them for one more half hour.
When the time came, for some reason, the sunrise was so much more breath-taking on that morning.
"SUGOI!" Mileina yelled, "It's so pretty!"
"Yeah it is," Sumeragi said.
"Hey does anyone know that song that people usually sing on New Years?" Lockon asked, "I can't remember how it goes, but it has kind of an odd name."
Tieria gasped as Veda sent him a bit of information, "Auld Lang Syne?" He asked sheepishly.
"Yeah!" Lockon said, "That's the one! Does anyone know how it goes?"
Tieria gasped as Veda once again contacted him. //Veda…what are you implying? Could it be that you want me to…sing it?//
"Tieria," Sumeragi said as she noticed the color change to the boy's eyes, "What is Veda telling you?"
Tieria sighed. He really didn't want to sing, his throat was still rather raw from the cold he had. And to be truthful he was worried about what the others would think, "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind," He started singing softly. He looked at the others who were all staring at him and for the first time, he got self-conscious, "My voice is bad isn't it?"
"Not at all," Sumeragi said. She had a feeling about what Veda was up to, "Keep singing."
Tieria nervously glanced away, "Are you sure my voice isn't awful?" He asked.
"You've got a great voice," Lockon said, "It's better than mine that's for damn sure. Come keep singing!"
Tieria nodded, "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?" He sang, "For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne."
When Tieria finished everyone broke into applause, "That was wonderful Tieria-kun," Linda said.
"Yeah," Mileina piped in, "That was really good!"
"It was just what we need to end the holiday season," Lockon said, "Thanks Tieria."
"Alright," Sumeragi said, "Bedtime, all of you."
As they all headed back to their rooms, every single crew member of the Ptolemaios, yes including a stubborn Tieria Erde, agreed that it had been the best holiday season any of them had had in a long time.
Epilogue
"I hear that this place has a huge selection of Gundam models," A blond haired green eyed man said, "I am going to get my hands on that Gundam."
"I don't think you of all people should be playing with toys made to represent the enemy." Another man with long brown hair and glasses said.
"If I can't really have Gundam than this is the next best thing, Billy," The blond man said.
"What is your commander going to say when he finds you playing with a plastic model of the enemy Graham?" Billy said.
"I'll just say that everyone has their secret fantasy," Graham said.
"You make it sound so perverted," Billy said, "Just don't get arrested doing anything erotic with a plastic children's toy."
"I won't," Graham said. He gasped, "They have it!" he squealed, "Perfect grade Gundam!" He went to grab it went to grab the handle when a slightly overweight woman grabbed the handle at the same time and the next thing Graham knew he was doubled over clutching his stomach.
"I saw it first punk!" She yelled.
"But I saw Gundam first!" Graham choked, "I'm a Union Flag Fighter. I've fought against Gundam."
"I don't care if you were a Gundam Meister," The woman said, "I still wouldn't give this to you! I've already lost one to some cosplaying freak with purple hair and red eyes! I'm not losing another one to a pathetic man who claims to be a Flag Fighter. I guess the next thing you're going to say is that you're the real Graham Aker."
"But I am Graham Aker!" Graham said.
"I don't care find your own!" The woman yelled as she walked off, "Freak."
"I've lost it again Billy," Graham said somberly, "Once again I've lost the chance to own Gundam."
"It's probably for the best," Billy said.
"Well," Graham said, "On to the next toy store!"
"Oh Graham…"
Yes I had to include Graham and Billy it just added to the madness. So much crazy crack-ness went on in this I can't list it all. And who would have ever thought that Tieria would sing in front of the others willingly (and he was sober this time). So let me know what you though. Thanks again, Sayonara Minna-san!
Ex-Shark-Virtue-005