Chapter 11

A/N: I do not own Gundam Seed or Gundam Seed Destiny. Please don't hate me for my long absence and remember to leave a review. Thanks!

Athrun had come into the room quite suddenly, taking in the whole scene in a sweeping glance. His eyes took in the rumpled bed and the half-hazard dressed state of Dearka and Miriallia and assumed that they had gotten a bit closer recently. He flushed in embarrassment at the thought and shook his head before kneeling at Miriallia and Dearka's side. Athrun could see that his friend was having a seizure and when he touched Dearka's forehead he realized his skin was extremely hot.

"What happened?" Athrun said walking to the bathroom and coming back with a cold wet washcloth. Miriallia sniffled as she tried to get herself to stop crying.

"He had a fever but he cooled down after taking a cold shower. He didn't want me to get a doctor." Miriallia sobbed gently. "But he just collapsed. It's all my fault." She practically yelled as Athrun put the cloth against his friend's forehead. Miriallia sobbed as she stroked Dearka's hair. His body then suddenly stopped seizing and he was still…too still.

"Get back!" Athrun said as she placed Dearka's head gently on the floor and Athrun reached down to put an ear against Dearka's chest. "His heart stopped!" He yelled and immediately started CPR. Miriallia just sat there sobbing as he blew air into Dearka's lungs and started compressions. Over and over he repeated the process and eventually Dearka took in a shallow shuddering breath and then another. Athrun sighed in relief and then collapsed next to him. Miriallia wiped her face and kissed Dearka's forehead.

Athrun stood up and left the room but was back a second later with a hand-held radio. "Cagalli, it's Athrun this is an emergency do you copy?" There was a slight silence and then a static sound as Cagalli's voice came back over the radio.

"Yes, Athrun, I copy. What's wrong?"

"Dearka just had a seizure and I had to perform CPR. I need you to send a medical team to his room so we can transfer him safely to the infirmary."

"Oh gosh. Okay. I will let them know. ETA three minutes." Cagalli said and the radio was silent once more.

Athrun and Miriallia sat in silence and they looked down at Dearka. Miriallia was wiping sweat off his face but new sweat immediately replaced it. "His fever is sky high. This isn't good. I wonder if that is what caused his seizure." Miriallia murmured almost to herself, but also in an attempt to fill the somewhat uncomfortable silence.

"That is a possibility. I am sure the medical staff here will be able to figure everything out after running some tests." Athrun replied almost as softly. Just then, a medical team arrived with a gurney. Carefully they lifted Dearka onto it and left the room leaving Miriallia and Athrun to follow quickly after them.

Cagalli had her arm wrapped around Miriallia's shoulders to comfort her, as the doctors tried to bring down Dearka's extremely high fever with cooling blankets, fans, and fluids. They were also running a blood panel to see if that could tell them anything about what caused his fever and seizure. Next they gave him a CT scan to see if there was any sort of brain damage, along with a full body scan to see if any other injury could have caused his condition. All the while, Athrun stood with his arms across his chest watching all the doctors with a deep frown of worry on his face and he had started chewing on the inside of his lower lip, probably without realizing it.

Cagalli had glanced over and seen Athrun looking quite upset compared to his normally calm demeanor and after guiding Miriallia into a chair and handing her a tissue she walked over to him. "Dearka will be okay Athrun." Cagalli said her voice cracking slightly.

Athrun looked at her after a moment, realizing that she sounded uncertain. "Something has to be causing this. I want to know what it is. Make sure the doctors let me look over his test results." He said to her as she nodded her assent and put her hand on his arm comfortingly.

It had been over 24 hours since Dearka had his seizure and although his fever had broken two hours before, he still hadn't regained consciousness. Miriallia had refused to leave his bedside except to move out of the way for doctors to check his vitals or give him more fluids. Doctors had explained that despite him being a coordinator, he might have suffered some brain damage or swelling due to the severity of his fever coupled with the seizure.

Meanwhile, Athrun was pouring over the notes and results of the scans and blood work that the doctors had performed. He believed that given the extensiveness of Dearka's prior injuries and the fact that he was deprived of oxygen for a minute or so after his seizure might be the reasons Dearka wasn't waking up yet. His body could only take so much, coordinator or not.

However, after taking a closer look at Dearka's blood work, Athrun frowned and flipped back to the old blood work Dr. Niall had run at the hospital on the main island. There was a chemical in his blood that shouldn't be there, something that wasn't naturally occurring in the body, not even in a coordinator's body. He kept frowning at the chemical reading on the page, when Cagalli walked up behind him. "Find anything?" Cagalli asked.

"Yeah I think so actually." Athrun said and pointed to what he found. She frowned as well.

"I am assuming that isn't supposed to show up in his blood huh?" Cagalli said.

"No it's not." Athrun replied. "He could be having a bad reaction to this chemical. The question is, how was he exposed to it?" They both glanced up at Dearka and Miriallia looked back at them, a bit of hope showing on her face. She had overheard what they had just said.

"Do you know what we could do to make him better?" Miriallia asked hopefully.

"Not entirely sure, but I am guessing a blood transfusion might be helpful." Athrun said and Cagalli left to retrieve the doctor who was, at the time, in another part of the shelter.

"Would we have a hard time giving him a blood transfusion with what they have here at the infirmary?" Miriallia said, unsure of how Coordinators' blood differed from Naturals' blood.

"Actually, I think it would be better to give him blood from another coordinator. I am actually a universal donor. I wonder if my blood will be enough to get that chemical out of his blood though."

"What about Kira and Lacus. They are still here right? I wonder if they know their blood types." Miriallia suggested.

Athrun looked up at her. "That's actually a good idea I will go find them and ask." He said and left the room.

"You are going to pull through this." Miriallia whispered to Dearka as his breath fogged up his oxygen mask.

Unfortunately, neither Kira nor Lacus was the right blood type to donate. Cagalli had returned with the doctor and he had started drawing and collecting Athrun's blood after agreeing that a blood transfusion might be Dearka's only chance to get better. During this time, Cagalli had convinced Miriallia to take a shower, change clothes, and eat something, telling her that she would be the first person they contacted if Dearka's situation changed.

Doctors then started pairing Athrun's blood donation with an anticoagulant so that there would be no issues when the transfusion took place. Dearka was then hooked up to a machine that slowly started filtering out his blood and at the same time Athrun's blood was put into the machine and cycled into Dearka's body. Doctors explained to Cagalli and Miriallia who had returned just as the transfusion was ending that they would know if procedure was successful in a couple hours.

After about a half and hour of fidgeting, Athrun got up from the chair he'd been sitting in and mumbled something about having something he needed to do. After another half hour passed, Cagalli was told over her radio attached at her hip that she was needed in a private Cabinet meeting. Apologizing, Cagalli told Miriallia to let her know if there was any change and then left the room too.

Other than the sound of Dearka's somewhat uneven breathing and the light beeping sound from the screen next to his bed that monitored his heart rate there was nothing but silence. Without really thinking about it Miriallia started humming gently and stroking her fingers through Dearka's hair, occasionally blotting the sweat from his brow with a damp washcloth kept in a bowl of water next to the bed. After another hour of sitting with Dearka, Miriallia started to notice him become a bit restless. After alerting the doctor he checked over Dearka and looked at his vitals on the screen. "It looks as if he is starting, at least somewhat to regain consciousness. It might not be long now before he wakes up." The doctor said confidently. Miriallia smiled for the first time since before Dearka collapsed.

Athrun entered the infirmary and saw that Miriallia had curled up on the hospital bed with Dearka, who was still unconscious, but appeared to be a bit restless. "Is he regaining consciousness?" Athrun asked her.

"The doctor thinks so. He says it could happen any time now." Miriallia answered not lifting her head.

"That is good to hear. I was able to set up a secure line and leave a message for Yzak to call me back when he had a chance. I figured that would cheer Dearka up if…I mean when he wakes up." Athrun said, holding his breath and praying Miriallia didn't notice his slip up. She just nodded and clenched Dearka's hand tightly.

After another hour, Dearka's head tossed from side to side a bit as if he were trying to rid himself of a bad dream and then his eyes finally flickered open. "Thank goodness." Miriallia said as she cried into his shoulder. Dearka smiled lightly at her and then frowned as he removed the oxygen mask from his face.

"What happened?" He said, his voice raspy.

"You had a seizure and your heart stopped. Athrun performed CPR. You have been fighting a fever and unconsciousness for over 24 hours and had a blood transfusion to try and get rid of a chemical in your body. Athrun donated his blood for you." Miriallia explained.

Dearka smiled and said, "Looks like we aren't even anymore Zala. You saved my ass again."

Athrun chuckled and sat down on the edge of Dearka's bed opposite of Miriallia. "I also was able to leave a message for Yzak to call back when he had the chance. I figured you would want to talk with him when you woke up. You haven't talked to him since coming to Earth right?" Athrun said.

"No, I haven't spoken with him." Dearka said clenching Miriallia's hand.

"Well, now you will get a chance to." Athrun said and when he smiled he realized that Miriallia was smiling back at him. "So how do you feel?" He said after a moment.

"My head hurts and I am a bit dizzy, but other than that, I feel great…if you don't take into account my ribs and back." Dearka said with a grin. He meant to be funny but apparently neither Athrun nor Miriallia thought he was. They frowned at him for a second before Athrun stood up.

"I'm going to get the doctor to see if there is anything he can do to make you more comfortable. Then we are going to have to test your blood again. I will leave this tablet here in case Yzak calls." Athrun said and quickly left the room.

Miriallia still had that concerned frown on her face and even the pressure of his hand cupping her cheek was not enough to erase it. "Listen Mir, Athrun worries too much. I know I have been a bit out of sorts lately, but I promise I'm fine." Dearka said, feeling bad about lying to her. He felt awful; besides the throbbing in his head and being dizzy there was also a weight on his chest that made breathing not only difficult, but also somewhat painful. His ribs felt like they were on fire and his back throbbed. She replaced the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and brushed the hair away from his eyes.

"I don't care what you say Dearka. You look terrible and I have been so worried about you, we all have." Miriallia said. He smiled and squeezed her hand.

"I'm sure that everything will be okay Mir." Dearka said as the doctor returned to take another blood sample.

A few minutes later when the doctor left the room, the tablet that had been laying next to Dearka on the bed started beeping. Dearka's stomach dropped and he realized that it was Yzak calling. "Miriallia, I'm sorry but could I talk to Yzak alone for a few minutes?" Dearka asked quietly. She nodded and left the room and Dearka answered the call.

Yzak's face filled the screen and he looked angry. "Dearka?" He asked his face immediately changing from angry to concerned. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a long story Yzak and I'm not really sure where to start. Part of what I am going to tell you is something that I was forbidden from talking about."

"Enough with being so damn secretive Dearka just spit it out." Yzak said getting impatient, but Dearka could tell he was just worried and wanted answers.

"Chairman Durandal sent me here on a mission to obtain information about the restructuring of Orb as well as the whereabouts of Lacus Clyne. Before he sent me here however, he injected me with some sort of experimental transmitter that could inflict pain and serve as a tracking device. He also threatened your life if I didn't cooperate. I got a job as part of Cagalli's security detail here in Orb. Blue Cosmos has been active and they bombed the estate during the banquet welcoming Kira and Lacus back to Orb. Athrun and I got caught in the explosion and were injured. Blue Cosmos is now specifically targeting all Coordinators connected in any way with the Orb government, so we were moved to this shelter on Onogoro Island, and now it seems like the transmitter is malfunctioning and leaking a chemical into my body. I had an extremely high fever and then had a seizure that stopped my heart. Athrun noticed the chemical in my blood work and suggested a transfusion. I had the transfusion but unless the transmitter is removed, the chemical will keep leaking into my body." Dearka said, taking quite a while to say it all since he had to pause and take so many breaths in the oxygen mask.

Yzak was sitting in stunned silence on the other end of the video call. His face was pale and he opened and closed his mouth several times trying to find the words. "You idiot! Why didn't you try to tell me this sooner? I could have…I don't know done something!" Yzak spat angrily.

"No one else can know why I am here. I don't know how to explain the chemical in my blood without telling them about the transmitter."

"This is insane Dearka! You are really sick and could actually die dammit. You already almost did!"

"That is part of the reason I wanted to tell you this. I figure if I die, at least you would know what was going on." Dearka said half seriously.

"Shut up Dearka! This is no time for jokes! I'll find a way down there to help you fix this mess!" Yzak yelled.

"I don't know how to tell anyone the truth Yzak." Dearka said his voice cracking.

"You need to stop caring about the Chairman and at least tell Athrun the truth. You can trust him. He may be a bastard but he will get you the help you need. The doctors there need to get that damn transmitter out of you before you get worse! I will find a way to get to Orb today. Don't you dare die on me Elsman." Yzak said threateningly before the call ended.

Dearka shook his head as he set the tablet down. How am I going to tell Athrun the truth and what about Miriallia? Dearka thought breathing as calmly as he could through the oxygen mask. A few minutes later, doctors came in and gave him painkillers via his IV and Dearka asked to see Athrun right away. I might as well get this over with.

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