AN: I'm back! Sorry about the delay, I was in two stage-shows this weekend, then had to learn steps for another dance, then had two midterms and a paper to write. I have a similar weekend coming up...sigh, then another two shows the weekend after (I make money as a dancer, either with choreographed partner dances, being in showgirl routines, or various other things like backup dancing and music videos...check out my fan page if you're curious!). The next chapter may take a few days. This is one of the shorter chapters that I've written. I planned on it being longer, but I liked where it ended and didn't want to continue from there. I loved re-watching the episodes for just before this chapter because of RIBBONS BITCH-SLAPPING LIU-MEI! I liked Ribbons a lot more after that.

From here on out I'll be slowly hammering in some wedges between Lyle/Rev, and hopefully laying some anchors to Lyle/Anew. I want to be clear though, Lyle/Anew won't be in the same kind of crazy-love that they were supposed to be in during the series (all three episodes...) because I can't get my head around it. There will be love, but conflicted love and such, and Lyle will do quite a bit of waffling around. I probably won't write from Anew's perspective as she gave no indication as to what kinds of things she'd be thinking about at any given moment. Allelujah/Marie and Marina will start to take more story importance for the next little while, and Tieria may turn over a different leaf. I haven't decided yet.

Kate: I'll keep more Setsuna in mind! As Marina is going to be coming back into the story she'll be talking with him, so there are definite areas that I can add him in more. The one-sided Halle/Sume will be explored a bit later, hopefully over some alcohol if I can ever get Sumeragi and Reverie in a room together when she's not being punished...(seriously, I've had it in my plan twice already and it hasn't worked out...of course the plan changed when I decided on a pairing). Anne: As for my time...I just seem to have a lot of it. I don't watch TV a lot, I get my homework done ahead of time, and I schedule every minute of my life. My chapters are mainly written between classes and/or at work (I'm allowed to write at work!), so they don't take out a huge chunk of time. My jobs on the other hand...I should pick one instead of three. I'm looking forward to your update!

Speaking of updates: EVERYONE UPDATE EVERYTHING! I want something to read.

Time Will Tell

"Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time."

Benjamin Disraeli

"Supervisor! Supervisor!"

Reverie looked at the bouncing white ball in front of her incredulously as it chirped its excitement. Sumeragi and Tieria stood in front of her, blocking her escape from the padded cell that she'd been banished to. "Really? A Haro as a supervisor?" she asked in annoyance.

Tieria nodded. "You've proven that you cannot be trusted to make rational decisions on your own. Haro is incredibly rational and is also linked with many of Ptolemy's systems. He'll warn us if you try to lock him away or reprogram him, so don't try it."

Reverie scoffed. "What decision would you rather I'd made, Tieria? I got information, I managed to power down the suit that would have damaged Cherudim, and I handed over necessary informat-!"

"Yes, and you also put your life in jeopardy, you could have shorted out Ptolemy's systems at a vital moment, and furthermore you displayed your as-yet untested abilities to the enemy." He said, cutting her off. "And in the case of Cherudim, you'd do well to remember that there are three other Gundams that you should be worrying about." He quipped. It was a dig at her worry over Lyle. She growled in her head. He was right, but she didn't have to like it.

"What do you think?" Reverie asked Sumeragi, who had been relatively quiet, especially as it was her orders that had placed Reverie in the padded solitary cell.

Sumeragi sighed. "I agree with Tieria. I understand what you wanted to do and I'm glad that you were able to get the information that you did, but you can't operate on your own like that. From forecaster to forecaster, you have to realize that you undermined my tactical plan and could have gotten any one of the Meisters killed."

Coming from Sumeragi, the confession hurt. She was right. They were both right. She'd done something stupid and she was dealing with the consequences. She hadn't felt this childishly upset since she'd broken her mother's favorite teapot while making her a surprise breakfast. It wasn't her intention to undermine Sumeragi, but the impact of her actions had done exactly that. Impact, not intent, her father's voice chided in her head. "I understand." She finally said, catching the white Haro and looking at its goofy robotic smile. "What do I need to know about this guy?"

"Finally, a useful question." Tieria muttered. She ignored his tone. "He will go everywhere with you. Everywhere. I've even had him programmed to be the operator of your new system once the finishing touches are put on it. He will control your sleep sedatives and your pain medication when the pseudo drives are nearby, as well as the escape shuttle if your system is disconnected from Ptolemy." He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "Also, if you decide that you're intent on doing something foolish, he'll be able to tranquilize you."

"What!?" Reverie asked, looking at the little ball. "So I have to live with the constant paranoia that he might shoot darts at me?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Tieria quipped. "He won't have to shoot you. I took the liberty of placing four vials of high-powered sedatives in your body when you were unconscious. Haro can choose to activate any one of them if he needs to."

Reverie looked down at herself. Her whole body had been aching considerably since she woke up and she hadn't noticed any new pains.

"Anew Returner has already regenerated the cells over the incisions, so the locations of the implants are only known to myself, her, and Haro." He said.

Anew Returner. Right. Reverie had almost forgotten about her. She was part of the reason that Reverie was sitting in solitary right now. In her morphine and GN-particle induced haze she'd realized that she couldn't hear the woman's thoughts, and she'd lunged at her, demanding to know why and accusing her of being a monster, an innovator, or both. It wasn't a proud moment, to say the least. She wasn't completely misguided, though. Tieria was an innovator and she couldn't hear his thoughts, just as as she couldn't hear the thoughts of two of the pilots on the battlefield during their escape from the resource satellite. She didn't know what to think about the woman. Tieria was proof that there were innovators on Celestial Being's side, but Tieria himself acknowledged that he'd have to 'betray Celestial Being' to fit in with 'his own kind'. Where did Anew's loyalties lie? The more disturbing question was whether or not she was actually an innovator. Maybe she just had the unconscious ability to hide her thoughts. One was just as likely as the other at this point. Reverie sighed.

"Fine. Is there anything else?" she asked. "How long am I in here for?"

"Two more days." Sumeragi said. "We most likely won't need you until the repairs to Ptolemy are finished. You'll be allowed to have visitors, but only for half an hour at a time."

"Wonderful." Reverie muttered.

"Take the time to get used to your new friend, and to read up on his care manual." Tieria said, tossing her a data drive. "If you break him, we have more to replace him, but the other Haros won't be very forgiving…they're very loyal to each other."

"Great. See you in two days." Reverie muttered. Tieria nodded and left, but Sumeragi hesitated in the doorway.

"If you ever need to get in contact with me for information or anything else, let Haro know and he'll forward it to me. He can relay messages to any of the Meister's communication drives, although he's been instructed to not do so while you're in confinement." She said. Reverie got the distinct impression that she hadn't stayed back just to tell her that.

"Is there something else?" she asked. She couldn't tell what the woman was thinking at the moment. The GN Particle overload had turned all of the voices in her head fuzzy unless she was in physical contact with them, like all she was hearing was white noise, constantly. All she could feel were the emotions of the woman in front of her. Wordless expressions.

Sumeragi's breath caught in her throat, then she stepped into the room and let the door seal itself shut. Reverie assumed that Haro could open it if instructed. The woman leaned against the wall.

"I see a lot of myself in you, you know." She started. "Back when I was still a young forecaster. You have the same active energy, the same approach to your problems. You can think outside the box as well as any other forecaster, and you know that you can. It's given you confidence…a lot more than it should."

"I don't under-!"

Sumeragi cut her off, not rudely, but as though she wasn't finished with the thought. "You're getting cocky, just like I had. I thought I had it all figured out, like I could win at any one of the chess-game scenarios that the AEU could throw at me. It was that overconfidence that lead me to attack friendly forces, have my team killed, and have my…lover killed." She said. Reverie could almost feel the knot in the woman's throat. She could see the glossy sheen of the tears that she was holding back in her eyes. "If you keep doing what you're doing, pushing your boundaries and forgetting your limits…it'll be you whose responsible for wiping out your friends…it'll be your stomach that's twisted in grief as you watch someone you love die." Sumeragi said. "We're going to be fighting again within days. Think about what's important." She patted Haro on the head and the door opened. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to you." She said as she turned to leave. "There's only enough room on this ship for one problem drinker, after-all."

Then she was gone.

The humour of her last sentence was bitter. It wasn't funny at all, and it cut like a jagged knife.

"It's true! It's true!"

The white ball in her hands flapped its ears. Who knew a robot could be so smart.

That voice.

Lyle couldn't get it out of his head. He sat with his third coffee of the day in the empty cafeteria. The battle kept replaying itself over and over in his head. The shots, the dodges, the voice that came from the masked man who taunted him on-screen. The voice was Neil's. Of course it was. It had to be. The process of elimination told him otherwise. Neil was dead, Lyle was with Celestial Being. Who was that man, then? A clone? There had to be more useful people to clone than his brother. Someone with a similar voice? No. It wasn't similar, it was Neil's voice. So who was he?

According to Reverie's reports his name was Ailin Gallagher. An A-Laws Captain with several commendations, courses, and a license to do what he wanted. She didn't mention the voice at all. It irritated him. She would have to have heard his voice. She would have seen him in person.

How had she not brought up his voice? Did she not recognize it? A twinge of hurt pulled at his mind as he considered the likelihood that she hadn't recognized his voice.

No. She would have.

She knew.

Why had she kept it from him?

Had so much changed between the two of them, or was he wrong to believe that she was open with him at all? She knew what he was thinking, what he was feeling, what his intentions were. He knew none of those things about her. That hurt.

He didn't know why she'd kept the man's voice from him.

He would find out.

One thing he knew for certain though was that the man, whomever he was, fought like Neil. The dodges, the perfectly executed long-range shots, the way that his mobile suit had barely leaned back before throwing a right hook. At the same time, he was completely different. His brother would never miss a shot intentionally, as this man had. Cherudim had never registered as being in the man's crosshairs for the first shot, which meant he'd aimed off. Neil didn't like to toy around when he was shooting, his accuracy ratings were enough to prove that. His brother also never had that snide tone in his voice.

"What's the matter, Sniper Dear?"

That was a tone reserved just for Lyle. The man was Neil, but he wasn't Neil. He was something else entirely.

"I seem to always see you looking gloomy."

"Anew! Anew!" Haro announced gleefully.

Anew stood, holding her own coffee and looking down at him, smiling. It was a sincere smile, carefree, as though they were sitting in a park back in Ireland. As though war didn't exist and almost-brothers weren't plaguing his mind.

"I can't say it's a bad thing…you cheered me up last time, after-all." He said, smiling himself.

"Is that so?" she asked, sliding into the seat across from him. "Let's see if I can do it again." She laughed. It was a light laugh, airy and full of the promise that she would most definitely lift his mood. They'd talked more than once since they'd met at the resource satellite and he liked their conversations. She was nice. More than that though, she was smart and gentle. She didn't have the biting sarcasm that he and Reverie playfully stung each other with, and she didn't have the weary look in her eyes that the brunette telepath carried almost always, unless on the range. It was refreshing in a way that he needed, especially as he was angry with the telepath at the moment.

"I really hope you can."

Allelujah watched as Marie pouted, looking as adorable as he'd ever seen her, yet at the same time plucking ever so lightly at the worry string in his heart.

"I feel horrible. I shouldn't have left the room." she said, examining the hem of her pants pocket.

"That's ridiculous Marie. Because you left the room Ian was able to be brought to sick bay and the Double-Oh Raiser was able to be brought to Setsuna. If you hadn't left the room Ptolemy might have been badly damaged." He pointed out. He didn't like seeing her upset, and she was definitely upset at the moment.

"But my job was to watch Reverie, and I didn't do that." She stated.

Allelujah shook his head. "Marie, Reverie is an adult. She made her own decision and that isn't your fault. You did the best you could at the time." He sat down next to her and pulled her against him. She was so small in his arms and he loved it. He stroked her silvery-white hair and nuzzled her head. "All anyone can hope to do is their best, Marie."

He felt her sigh against him. "I know, but I was given a job to do, and I didn't do it well."

"That isn't your fault." He repeated calmly.

"But now I'm stuck with no job again, no way to help. I don't want that, Allelujah. I don't want to be useless." She said softly. She looked up at him, golden eyes sad. He kissed the tip of her nose.

"You aren't useless Marie. No one thinks of you that way. They can all see the effort you make to be helpful around Ptolemy." She made effort all the time. Fixing machines, bringing everyone their meals, helping to compile information for Sumeragi, and even giving the support staff a break and helping to clean once in a while. More than that though, she helped in one instrumental way. She gave him a reason to fight…something that he thought he'd lost in that abysmal prison. "Marie, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know why I pilot Arios…I fight harder because I know that I'm protecting you. That alone is enough of a help, isn't it?"

She slipped her arms over his shoulders and adjusted herself in his lap, looking up at him curiously. "What would you be like if I wasn't onboard?" she asked, tilting her head. His heart swelled at the gesture. This was the side of her that the rest of the crew never saw. Cute, curious, and even a little bit coy. To answer her question, he didn't know.

"I'm not sure, but I know that I wouldn't fight with the same drive or intensity."

"Why not?"

He sighed. It was complicated. Before the prison he'd known what he was fighting for. He never wanted anyone like them to exist ever again. Four years of solitude could change anyone's opinions, though. "I'd forgotten why I wanted to fight, to be honest…After spending those years in the prison something in me changed."

Marie nodded. "I could sense it when we fought…I'd always wondered what had changed."

"Did I ever tell you why I used to fight?"

Marie shook her head.

"I wanted to end war so there would never be a reason for people like us to be made." He said.

"Which is why you destroyed the Super Human Institute, right?"

He nodded. "That was my only goal, and it was why I fought time after time. I…hated what I was. A weapon of war. A person made to fight…"

"Someone who didn't deserve happiness…right?" Marie questioned, looking away. Of course she understood…she was like him. A Super Soldier. He nodded and kissed her forehead.

"After I was taken to the prison, though, that changed. Being a Gundam Meister in an A-Laws facility makes you quite a target for pent-up aggression, and time and time again I'd find myself beaten over nothing. Every hit was meant to break something. Bone, flesh, me. It didn't happen, though. Instead, as it happened time and again, I became proud of what I was. They could hit as hard as they wanted but my bones wouldn't break. They could starve me as long as they wanted but I wouldn't die. They could keep me locked in solitude for years, but my muscles wouldn't lose their strength." He said, absentmindedly playing with her hair as he spoke. "It was my own silent victory."

"Allelujah…." She looked up at him in concern and he could see the guilt in her eyes.

"It wasn't your fault Marie." He replied when he realized his mistake.

Her face was pulled in worry. "Isn't it though? I'm the reason you were there in the first place…it was becau-!"

"No!" he interrupted. He didn't want her to finish. "When I saw you again I found a new reason to fight, Marie. Every time I fight it's because I know it'll protect you, and it'll make the world a place where you won't ever have to fight. That's enough for me. Is it enough for you, too?" he asked. He didn't want to ever see her fight again. He felt enough guilt already because he'd fought against her time and again. He didn't need to feel more because he'd broken a promise to a man that she herself called 'father'.

She studied him silently, then sighed. "For now it is."

"What do you mean?" he inquired. 'For now' implied that there would be a time when it wouldn't be enough for her.

"If there comes a time that I have to fight, I want to, Allelujah. Everybody here has accepted me and forgiven me so easily…even Feldt. If there ever comes a time where I need to take up arms to fight for them, I want to."

He sighed. "Will we talk about it if the time ever comes?" he asked. Part of him was scared to hear the answer.

"If there's time, yes." She said. She buried her face in his shoulder and he let it go. He knew the discussion was far from over, but at least she was willing to talk to him about it.

"What ended up happening to Reverie?" he asked, changing topics.

"She was sent to solitary confinement right after she left the infirmary…she's been there for a day and a half already."

Solitary.

He remembered that. The word brought mixed feelings. The solitary in the prison had been pitch black and full of the echoes of the sounds from outside. Ptolemy's solitary was brightly lit and devoid of sound. It seemed like solitary could never encompass all five senses. What would it be like for someone who could hear what everyone was doing?

Maybe he'd pay her a visit later.

After a few hours of reading the manual for her new 'supervisor', Reverie idly watched as the white ball-bot rolled around, chattering to itself about this and that. She'd never really taken the time to observe a Haro before, but if her memory served her correctly Lyle's had never talked to itself. It was strange, but she wasn't exactly worried. It would be fitting if the Haro was as strange as she was.

The Haro wasn't really on her mind, though. She was completely lost in a much darker, less entertaining subject.

Lyle's brother.

She hadn't given much thought before as to why Gallagher's voice sounded like Lyle's. She hadn't thought about it in detail, and as days had passed she'd started to believe that his voice only sounded similar to Lyle's. The escape from Lagrange Three had crushed that idea.

It wasn't similar, it was the same.

More than that, she'd gotten more than a glimpse into Gallagher's head. What she'd seen had turned her stomach to knots. He knew the Meisters. He knew that Setsuna had been a child in the Krugis-Azadistan conflict, that Allelujah was a super-soldier, and that Tieria wasn't necessarily human. He didn't know their names, though. It was like they'd been erased. He knew their fighting styles, their battle formations, and he knew who got along with whom.

For all intents and purposes, he knew as much as Lyle's brother would have.

Furthermore, he knew nothing that had happened with Celestial Being since around the time that Lyle's brother had died. She had no idea what to do with her knowledge. This particular type of knowledge was Kryptonite.

That was why she hadn't said anything.

She knew what kind of image everyone from the original Ptolemy's crew had of Lyle's brother. He was a mentor, a confidant, someone who could always be counted on and who would never let them down. He had been the glue that had held the crew together, and his death only strengthened the bonds that he'd made. In their minds he was a hero.

What would happen if she shattered that image?

What would happen if she told them that he was piloting for the A-Laws now, healed but with no real memories of them? Would they break apart? Would they refuse to believe it? Would it change their resolve to fight?

More than that, what if she gave them the hope that he was alive and she turned out to be wrong? He could be a clone, or a red herring, something made by the innovators to shake their resolve. He could be Lyle's brother with no hope of ever remembering that fact.

If she was going to tell them, she had to be sure that it really was Lyle's brother, and she had to be sure that there was a chance that he could remember. If she did any less than make absolutely sure, she had no idea what would happen.

The only thing crueler than death was hope, after-all.

Hope.

What would it do to Lyle?

Would he want his brother to return? Would he be glad to release the burden of being a Gundam Meister and happily run back to Katharon, or would he be destroyed? She knew that he both respected and disliked his brother. If his brother returned, would he still have a place here, or would Celestial Being do what others had been doing for his whole life and choose his brother over him?

They already did. It wasn't hard to see.

She wouldn't tell them yet. She couldn't do it unless she was sure.

Ailin Gallagher.

Neil Dylandy.

Only time would tell.